Gamers raised close to $1 million in Ramadan-charity drive

Users of gaming and instant messaging app Palringo raised almost $1 million for food aid programmes during the past four Ramadans, using its large community of Muslim gamers.

Palringo said on Tuesday that it had used in-game purchases from charity missions in its Hero Squad video game during this year's Islamic holy month to raise the sum for Islamic Relief Worldwide and Action Against Hunger.

"The more people in the group that are playing, the better the experience is for everyone, including the spender, which spreads the goodwill of the campaign, encourages more people to get involved and ultimately raises more cash for charity," Palringo CEO, Tim Rea, said.

"It's win-win for the players and the charities."

Popular in Gulf countries, Palringo is a messaging and gaming application that allows users to play community-oriented games.

The London-based firm first launched the charitable Ramadan initiative in 2013 and has since donated 50 percent of their revenues from chat games during the annual campaign to charity.

"It’s also a nice confirmation that the revenue from gifting contributes the most to the charity total, proving that a social gaming environment is a successful way to engage people with charitable giving," Tim Rea said.

Palringo said the total amount of money raised for charity from 2013 to 2016 was $989,345.

The funds raised in the campaign will be used by Islamic Relief Worldwide to provide vital services to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

Meanwhile, Action Against Hunger focuses on saving the lives of malnourished children and providing communities with sustainable access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger.