Success is on the cards

A GUERNSEY woman's idea for an online casino has proved a winner. Dawn Porter, 25, developed her concept with a team under the umbrella of VueTec Ltd which develops software for online real time gambling.

After rapid registration as a member, people can play poker, roulette and punto banco against others or the croupier at the Colony Club in Cyprus through a direct video link.

The business, which has its head office in Alderney with six staff, already has a monthly turnover of £1m., which is expected to rise to £5m. by this time next year.

The website has some 5,000 hits a day which, Miss Porter said, was increasing daily - another 600 people registered within hours after a News of the World article on Sunday.

'It feels amazing. Life has taken a crazy turn. When you have an idea you never imagine it could come to this,' she said.

The former Ladies' College and Grammar School student now lives in London, but still has family in the island.

She had her brainwave when she visited at the Magic Island Casino in Cyprus one summer.

When she returned for the third year of her acting degree at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, she tried to get friends to go with her to casinos but many, especially the women, found them intimidating.

So she started having casino nights at people's houses.

'They loved it,' she said.

She then liaised with the owners of the Cyprus casino and IT experts who developed the state-of-the-art games software.

After setting up a casino in Cyprus in which to practise the concept, they sold the software to the Colony Club. Miss Porter went to Las Vegas with the VueTec team to launch the software last September and this week they are at the casino exhibition at Earls Court, London.

While her main ambitions still lie in performing, her next project is devising casino-style formats for interactive television game shows.

'Ultimately I'd like to see the software in casinos worldwide and to really nail the TV interactive format for international distribution.'

Her work has been through the production company Vue Productions, an offshoot of VueTec.

Born in Scotland, Miss Porter moved to Guernsey as a baby and lived in St Martin's. At school, she despaired about her grades.

'When I did badly in my GCSEs I never thought I'd get anywhere.'

After sixth form at the Grammar School, she sang in a karaoke bar in Marbella before starting her acting degree which, she said, was 'very taxing but full of self-discovery'.

'It was stereotypical in that they rip you down to pick you up - you need to really believe that you want to do it. But I had so much fun and if people enjoy it, they should go for it.'

During her degree, for which she achieved a 2:1 BA honours, she presented a radio show at Liverpool University and produced a television show there.

After graduating, her first professional jobs were on the Ruby Wax and Gloria Hunniford shows, in Robot Wars and handling public relations for Frank Skinner.

She puts her success partly down to having a positive attitude.

'I've been really lucky and I've never struggled for work. The jobs you don't get are because you're not confident about them.'

The casino website is at www.vuetec.com