Damian Aspinall, son of the late entrepreneur John Aspinall, is betting on his family's 40-year association with gambling by bringing his online casino company to the stock market in a deal worth £45m.

Aspinalls Online will be formed by reversing Mr Aspinall's privately owned internet casino group GVI into Gaming Investments, an AIM-listed cash shell where he is also a director.

Mr Aspinall said GVI was growing at a rate of 50% per annum and last year recorded a £3.5m pretax profit from a £10.9m turnover. "This will be the first profitable internet company to float in the UK," he said. "Apart from porn, gambling is the only business model that appears to be working on the internet."

GVI is registered in Bermuda and will soon open a gaming portal offering casinos, sports betting and a VIP club for high-rollers.

Dozens of similar offerings have sprung up but Mr Aspinall believes that his family's name will count. "With a lot of these online gaming guys you don't know whether you're going to get paid, whether the odds are fair or if your credit card details are going to be nicked. The Aspinalls have been around for 40 years; people trust the name."

Gaming Investments will fund the acquisition and the raising of a further £5m by issuing new shares to shareholders in GVI and new investors.