SSP Gaming, a subsidiary of a company that got its start providing digital security for U.S. government agencies, is partnering with Las Vegas Sands Inc. as it prepares to launch an online gambling Web site.
SSP Gaming is a branch of SSP Solutions, which is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. Thomas E. Schiff, the CFO of SSP Solutions, said the company has several clients within the U.S. government for which it supplies security solutions for the digital transmission of data. The company also provides services, including digital rights management and micro-payment processing, to the financial services, entertainment, healthcare and education industries.
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"The site development is well under way, in fact it's nearing completion."
- Thomas E. Schiff
SSP Solutions
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Schiff said SSP Gaming has entered into a joint venture with the parent company of The Venetian to own and operated the online casino that will be branded with The Venetian's name.
Schiff said the agreement between SSP Gaming and the Las Vegas Sands allows for each entity to have different levels of monetary interest in the venture depending on its performance.
"It has different milestones and marks in it, so it depends on a number of different things, but we have a significant interest, depending on how that interest does, that interest can actually decrease over time," Schiff said.
Schiff could not disclose the milestones in the agreement.
He said the site will definitely launch this year, either in the middle of the year or at the end of the third quarter. The site's software is being developed by GET, a gaming software provider in Australia. Schiff said the site almost finished.
"It's beyond planning," he said. "The site development is well under way, in fact it's nearing completion."
VI Limited, a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands, was given an interactive gaming license and an electronic betting license on March 3 by Alderney, a British Channel Island. On March 10, both The Venetian and SSP made formal announcements of the project. VI Limited is to conduct the site under the name Venetian Interactive.
Richard Depew, the CEO of Venetian Interactive, said Alderney's high regulatory standards will allow his group to provide a safe gaming environment on the Internet.
"An Internet gaming license in Alderney provides Venetian Interactive with some of the highest regulatory standards and controls in the industry, which supports our goal of providing a user-friendly gaming and entertainment experience in a totally secure and trusted environment," Depew said in a press release.