South Point Hiring in Prep for First US Online Poker Site

South Point Poker is on the brink of launching its real money online poker site to residents of Nevada. The company is aiming high, hoping to be the very first, legal US online poker room to accept real money deposits. In accordance with that goal, the poker site is currently accepting applications for a multitude of positions that include customer service, marketing, technology, graphics and regulatory compliance departments.

South Point Poker launched a free-play poker room in October of 2011, but chose to shut down that site a few weeks back so as not to confuse its customers. The site helped to draw interest from potential real money online poker players, while also allowing the poker site to test and tweak its software. In addition, South Point attained a massive list of players nationwide for market targeting, both in Nevada and across the US should the legal framework extend that far in the future.

The poker room had hoped to be all set for launch this month, but those plans were pushed back due to further reflection of regulatory compliance, including more extensive testing of the South Point Poker software. Final approvals are now expected to come through in time to launch the real money online poker suite towards the end of the year.

“We feel we could launch today,” said Lawrence Vaughan, Chief Operating Officer of South Point Poker. “But you’ve got to go through the independent testing labs, you have to satisfy the State Gaming Control Board and because we are the first, we’re going to be under the microscope. They’re going to prod us every which way, and that’s good. We don’t want to come out and fall flat on our face and be an embarrassment for Nevada.”

South Point was the first to apply for an online gaming license from Nevada, and the first granted a license as well. Competitors have caught up in the licensing department, but continue to lag in other areas, thus South Point still appears to be the top contender for debuting the very first legal poker site in the US.

According to Vaughn, the regulatory process is not cut and dry. It is a grueling one, wherein the state’s gaming commission must determine if the technology is advanced enough to deal with any and all possible situations that may arise. Vaughn himself was even surprised by how meticulous the procedures are, saying “it’s so nitty-gritty, it’s mind-boggling.”

As for the free-play version of South Point Poker being dismantled, Vaughn commented, “We thought there was a lot of confusion happening. People see something in the press saying we’re the first to be licensed, and then they go to the site and see this free play thing.” He went on to say, “Now that we’re licensed, we put so much effort in to building our own stuff that we wanted the focus to be on that.”

Yesterday, South Point posted 17 positions available on the employment section of its website, including customer service reps, software developers, graphic artists and more, with annual salaries ranging anywhere from $25k up to 6-figures. Vaughn expressed the company’s goal to launch with about 40 employees on the roster, leaving room for exponential growth as the online poker room expands, not just across Nevada, but across the entire United States if and when such a nationwide legal status comes to fruition.