SMP Partners, represented by David Hudson and Lorna Coniglio-Burrows, joined executives and guests of Vivant at the launch of Jaro.com, recently licensed by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission.
The prestigious launch event at London’s One Marylebone, hosted by The Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury and headlined by BRIT Award-nominated AlunaGeorge, was also attended by a host of leading business figures and celebrities, including singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Ortise Williams from chart-toppers JLS.
The new crowd-funding social platform aims to become the world’s largest single annual fundraising initiative, with 13 of the world’s top registered charities and one lucky winner expected to benefit from the knockout tournament game.
Jaro.com is an initiative of Anthony Farah, founder and CEO of Sydney-based digital agency Vivant, and aims to generate funds of $1bn over the next year.
In the game, players buy a ticket for $10, giving them entry into the tournament. Players must split the $10 between the prize pool and charity, choosing the charitable causes they want to benefit. Players then take part head-to-head in a knockout tournament with others around the globe. To win the final prize pool, a player needs to successfully navigate their way through 27 knockout matches.
“Jaro.com is a billion dollar game for good – it is good for charities, good for the players and good fun,” said Jaro.com CEO Anthony Farah.
“We’re asking people a billion dollar question: how would you split a mind-boggling amount of money between charitable causes and one lucky winner’s jackpot? And then we’re asking them to pull together and make that US$1 billion a reality."
Jaro claims the game could become the single largest fundraising initiative in the world and, potentially, the provider of the biggest single prize pot of money ever. It has given itself a one year deadline to generate $1bn.
The 13 leading charities signed up to be beneficiaries of the game are ActionAid, Age UK, Amnesty International, British Red Cross, Cool Earth, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Guide Dogs, Merlin, War Child, World Cancer Research Fund, World Heart Federation, World Society for Protection of Animals and WWF.
The launch party was the culmination of many years of hard work for Anthony and his team. Jaro was awarded its gaming licence in March following six months’ intensive work with the Gambling Commission and the gaming team at SMP Partners, the Island's leading provider of gaming related corporate services, to prepare and submit the licence application.
Speaking of the decision to come to the Isle of Man, Anthony said: "Our decision to licence in the Isle of Man was primarily based on the Island's reputation as a highly regulated gaming jurisdiction and the access it gave us into the UK market - the first market we intend to target.”
“Also, we needed to establish a strong working partnership with a professional firm with the experience to guide us through the licensing process and help to manage our ongoing operations. SMP Partners have been such a partner; they have demonstrated a deep understanding of the licensing process and have helped us foresee and resolve the complex issues involved in building a framework on which to establish what we hope to be a $1BN operation. My thanks and appreciation go out to the team at SMP for the contribution they have made in getting us to this very important milestone; we look forward to working with them as Jaro.com continues to build its international profile and operations."
David Hudson, Group Director at SMP Partners commented: "It has been a real privilege to work with Anthony and his team; Jaro.com is an incredibly exciting game concept with ambitious plans; we are delighted to be involved and look forward to supporting the operation as it grows."
Photo - Paul Argus (Jaro.com), David Hudson (SMP Partners, Group Director), Steven Henderson (Jaro.com), Lorna Coniglio-Burrows (SMP Partners), Anthony Farah (Jaro.com, CEO), Fred Serhal (Jaro.com) and Bill King (Jaro.com).
