Sports Toto brings CNY joy to senior citizens

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 3,000 senior citizens including 170 from charity homes received Chinese New Year ang pow and a mini-hamper today from Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
In continuing the annual cheer for the senior citizens and underprivileged, Sports Toto spent a total of RM1.2 million this year on this donation campaign nationwide.
The campaign is expected to bring joy and ignite the festive mood for over 18,000 needy senior citizens, an increase of 1,000 from last year, in 50 cities throughout the country.
"This is our commitment to society. We want to continue what my father, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, started despite the challenging economic time.
"We have been doing charity for all the different groups of the community throughout the year and this is for Chinese New Year," Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd CEO Datuk Seri Robin Tan told a press conference after handing out the ang pow and goodies.
Sports Toto executive director Vincent Seow said the donation campaign at 49 other distribution points will go on till Jan 23.
"The year 2016 was a year full of challenges and difficulties. We have seen the depreciation of the ringgit, the slowdown of the economy, rising cost of living, people losing their jobs and global geo-political turmoil," he said.
He added that Sports Toto has not been spared the adverse economic environment and competition from illegal gaming operators.
"On this note, we are happy that our company has kept its promise to continue this charity event on a grand scale in spite of the current challenging economic situation," Seow said.
Also present was Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong, who launched the Chinese New Year donation distribution campaign.
Meanwhile, in IPOH, Sports Toto brought cheer to 1,050 senior citizens by distributing goodies and ang pow packets to them.
Gerakan adviser Tan Sri Chang Ko Youn distributed the goodies with the assistance of Sports Toto staff.
Its regional manager (North) Yip Kok Chyuan said Ipoh is one of the five locations in the state to hold the event annually.
The other places are Taiping, Gerik, Teluk Intan and Sitiawan.
A total 2,000 recipients aged 60 will benefit from the contribution in Perak.
This is the 29th year Sports Toto had made the contribution as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR)