Buddhist Canadian Donates Poker Tournament Winnings to Charity

Gambling can be something of a leap of faith, to say the least. Winning is never guaranteed… if it were, the casino and sports betting industries wouldn’t be half as successful as they currently are. However, there are a group of people who have made it their mission to pursue gambling in a professional manner, enabling themselves to actually earn a living off it thanks to their levels of skill and expertise.

One such individual who goes by the name of Scott Wellenbach, has done exactly that and recently went on to win a huge sum of money in a poker tournament. Now professional poker players win large amounts of money all the time but what makes this guy stand out from the rest is that he has announced that he won’t be keeping any of the winnings for himself, but instead has pledged to donate the entire sum to charity.

As a Halifax native, Scott Wellenbach may not be an internationally renowned poker pro, but he has made a name for himself in terms of his likeability, often referred to as “the people’s hero” and the “pride of Nova Scotia”.

One feature which has made him attract much publicity is the fact that he is a Buddhist, which is not a very common belief system in Canada, with only 1% of the population identifying as such.

In fact, this is not the first time Wellenbach used his powers for good, having made a similar gesture back in 2017, where he donated a proportion of his winnings to Buddhist nunneries.

The Buddhist Canadian had already pledged to make the donation even before the tournament got started, regardless of his placing. However, as luck (and skill) would have it, he ended up finishing third in the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, a high-profile poker tournament which was held in the Bahamas, winning a grand total of $671,240. While the top prize was a whopping $1.6 million, this is still no small amount, considering the measly $500 participation fee.

According to a close friend, Jason Dean Ross, Wellenbach doesn’t choose to donate his winnings as a result of his religion but rather because he manages to live below his means. Ross also added that unlike many of his peers, Wellenbach looks at poker as a way to connect with people in a genuine way, saying  “He enjoys the people that he meets. He really enjoys the conversation at the poker tables.”