Secure Trading and OTP LLC Announce Indian Country Gaming Partnership as OTP LLC Becomes Exclusive Reseller of Revolutionary ST-1 i-Gaming platform

Only days before the US thanksgiving celebration, Secure Trading announces a significant strategic partnership with OTP LLC to resell Secure Trading’s revolutionary ST-1 platform to tribal gaming operators.

This important partnership aligns the dominant influence of tribal gaming with the best-in-class technological authentication and payment processing platform, optimising player interaction.

ST-1 links the physical and digital gambling experiences and protects both the consumer and operator. It does this by offering the most comprehensively built, seamlessly integrated user registration, verification, authentication, and payment processing experience on the market.

There are four hundred and sixty tribal casinos in the US, generating more than $28 billion in annual gaming revenues, which, when compared to Nevada (Las Vegas Casinos last year generated $3.6BN in the same period) is significant. It is estimated that upwards of 80 million Americans have been issued a loyalty card at a tribally owned casino and are active, recreational gamblers. With iGaming currently legal in only three states - Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada - all eyes are closely following the legislation developments in California. With a population of 38M, California is the most densely populated state in the union; and with more than 200M domestic and 15M international visitors in 2013, California’s potential iGaming market is jaw dropping.

With the growing realisation that online gaming is once again a viable option in the United States, native sovereign nations are at the forefront of the modernisation of the new gambling experience.

Nearly three decades of explosive success has afforded tribes one of the collectively largest untapped consumer databanks in the world. In a day and age when data is king and consumer spend is not a foregone conclusion, tribes it seems are poised to make a significant impact to not only iGaming but, more specifically, to the ever-growing digital payments space as wider consumer adoption lends itself to all types of e-commerce.

Developed over the course of five years, ST-1 conforms to all existing US gaming laws and regulations; is a scalable, fully compliant, point-to-point process that allows US gaming operators to rest assured that every element of every transaction is fully audited and openly transparent, with a seamless registration process and optimized for high card acceptance rates. Checks also include identification, location and responsible gambling checks. Operators can also securely process deposits, manage the back office and deal with withdrawals all through one fully integrated compliant platform.

For tribes, it further protects their sovereignty by keeping existing consumer data confidential, whilst enabling wider engagement with customers, introducing greater brand loyalty and increased spend.

Kobus Paulsen, CEO at Secure Trading said: “This partnership represents a major opportunity in the US gaming market enabling us to cooperate closely with the Indian Tribes to provide a fully compliant platform aligned with market needs. Having spent a long time being part of the regulatory process our announcement today will help us access new markets and enable tribal businesses across native North America to significantly increase revenues and extend reach by providing consumers with greater choice and a better experience.”

Rico Garcia, CEO at OTP LLC said: “iGaming allows for our casino operations to reach a global audience. And with that, the stories of our people will too. And, in the end, that is what I want more than anything else: For the indigenous people of this land to be able to communicate our stories to the world and reach more people.”

About Secure Trading

Founded in 1997, Secure Trading, part of the UC Group of companies, is one of the world’s leading independent payment service providers, helping online merchants succeed and grow through application and development of cutting edge technology, world class expertise and a culture of dedicated trust. ST-1 is its new and unique end-to-end payments and verification platform for US licensed gaming operators. It is licensed in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware and enables US Gaming Operators to have a fully compliant and customizable customer registration process, whilst providing them the ability to verify and validate every step of the journey from deposit to pay-out. It is guaranteed to have the highest authorization rates and availability for a wide range of payment and pay-out options and has a completely integrated comprehensive back office management and reporting suite including complete audit trails and local tax distribution.

About OTP LLC

California-based OTP LLC is an independently owned strategic technology firm born out of the unique and much sought after expertise of its CEO, Rico Jeffrey Garcia, an enrolled member of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and its former Managing Director of Global Business Development. The exclusive license holder of Dynapass’ two-factor mobile authentication technology (U.S. Patent #6,993,658) and the exclusive reseller of Secure Trading’s St-1 Platform - both for North America - OTP, LLC has solely focused on the underlining aspects of gaming: security, consumer data, and payment processing. Coming from within Indian Country, OTP is unique in that it operates solely from a position of protecting the sovereignty of tribal governments and their various entities. It understands the tribal perspective; because sees the world from the tribal perspective.

About Rico Jeffrey Garcia

Raised on his tribe’s modest reservation in the outskirts of the greater Los Angeles area, Rico Garcia had a visceral experience of his tribe’s rise to become one of the most successful and influential Indian Gaming tribes in the country. Educated at Columbia University, for the past decade he has built and operated companies in the fashion, design, finance and technology industries. He currently divides his time bi-coastally between Southern California and New York City with his wife and two small children.