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July 14 - Two weeks ago, the online gambling community was shocked to hear
about the death of one of the industry's pioneers, Warren Cloud.
Just 34 at the time of his death, Cloud reportedly died of a heart attack on
his yacht off the coast of the island of Ibiza, although not much more is known
about his death.
Cloud left behind a small fortune, worth over R2 billion, to his wife and
young daughter, but he also left a legacy of unanswered questions about his
business and a trail of creditors who are demanding their money.
Warren Cloud has always been linked with the more shady side of online
gambling. He was known by a number of aliases, including Richard Brooks, Oliver
Curran and Don Fortune, and his career was described by the industry as
"chequered".
The eccentric and reclusive Cloud launched his first online casino in
Johannesburg and later fled to Australia, London and Costa Rica where he entered
into partnerships with Real Time Gaming. At the time of his death, Cloud
operated around ten online casinos.
A fortnight after his death, it was suddenly announced that all Cloud's US
online casinos were being shut down. Real Time Gaming went so far as to put out
an announcement urging all players with these sites to remove their money before
the end of this month, with the risk of forfeiting what was left in their
accounts if they did not do so. However, Real Time Gaming gave no reasons for
the sites' closures.
One brand that has remained unaffected by Cloud's death is the Silver Sands
brand, which has other shareholders to see it through these times.
Warren Cloud was a regular presence on the 'rogue' list at watchdog site,
Casino Meister and had in fact been on the list when he died. "His (US) casinos
were a frequent source of player complaints for some of its practices," said
Brian Bailey who runs Casino Meister.
Cloud also owed more than R200,000 to a South African advertising agency for
services rendered, with the creditors reportedly writing off the debt because
they were so sure that they would not see a cent of their money.
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