Glenn Straub Launches a Free-Play TEN Online Casino Website
Glenn Straub, the owner of the former Revel Casino, has launched a free-play gaming site under his TEN brand. Straub is gathering potnetial customers, in case he and TEN Casino ever gain official licensing from the state.
The TEN online casino website offers free credits for gamblers to player video slot machines and table games. No money changes hands, though players are allowed to buy more credits when their complimentary coins are gone.
Free-Play Online Casinos
The idea is similar to the one being used by the big Connecticut casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, which also have free-to-play online casinos. Such websites create a player database for the casino’s marketing staff.
Free-play casinos also establish a web presence in the search rankings, so a launch of a site would take less time, if the operator was licensed for gambling.
Glenn Straub said the TEN AC NJ website one day will host gambling. He told the Courier Post Online on Monday, “It’s going to be a full-blown casino. If everyone else is doing (internet gambling), he’ll do it.”
Hired Robert Landino for Casino Management
The “he” Glenn Straub refers to is Robert Landino, a Connecticut-based casino developer Straub hired to manage the TEN Casino, if ever it receives licensing. At present, Straub’s land-based gaming license is being reviewed by New Jersey regulators.
Straub is suing New Jersey, claiming its regulators wrongly apply laws to force him to obtain a full casino license. The Revel Building owner says he is going to be the landlord only, so the Department of Gaming Enforcement should give him a lesser license and look at Robert Landino as the gaming operator.
Casino Control Commission’s Decision
In February 2017, the Casino Control Commission ruled that Glenn Straub has enough control over the Revel Building that he needs to obtain a full license. While his lawsuit continues in the court system, Glenn Straub has an application before the DGE.
The Revel/TEN Casino saga has been meandering. Revel Casino opened in April 2012 as the most expensive building ever built in Atlantic City. The beautiful $2.4 billion structure lost its original owner, Morgan Stanley, before the doors opened on the casino. Revel Entertainment Group declared bankruptcy twice in its 29 months in operation, but eventually closed the doors of the Revel Casino in September 2014.
$82 Million Bankruptcy Auction
Glenn Straub and his Florida development company, Polo North, emerged from a bruising bankruptcy auction process to buy the Revel Building for $82 million in the Spring of 2015. In the two years since, Glenn Straub has been mired in lawsuits with tenants and energy suppliers, while applying for a gaming license. As an outsider to the Atlantic City casino industry who has never been a gambling operator before, the licensing process has been excruciatingly long for Polo North.
Glenn Straub believes it’s been too long. Meanwhile, his overall plan for the property has undergone several tweaks. In June 2016, Straub planned to open 500 of the building’s hotel rooms for business. In the weeks leading up to the June 15 grand opening, he held a contest to rename the Revel Casino.
Enter: TEN Casino
Eventually, the name he settled on was “TEN Casino”, because the number 10 is considered a mark of excellence. The plan to open the TEN Hotel in June 2016 never came to fruition, though, because Glenn Straub was unable to obtain a liquor license. Without the ability to serve liquor, Straub decided opening a hotel was ill-founded.
Over time, Glenn Straub has become critical of New Jersey’s officials. Straub said that Atlantic City desperately needs the jobs and tax revenues, yet he seemed to suggest that state and local officials have tried every means necessary to keep his business from launching. The Florida developer
Stopped Paying PILOT Bill
In recent months, Polo North has taken steps to force the issue. Glenn Straub announced last month he would not pay the 1st Quarter PILOT bill, which likely amounts to a figure between $1 million to $1.5 million. The PILOT bill is the “payment in lieu of taxes”, which is set at $120 million for the entire Atlantic City casino industry.
Straub argues that the Revel Building has been closed for nearly 3 years. Because of that, he thinks the building should be viewed as “abandoned”, and therefore assessed taxes according to an abandoned building. Atlantic City’s officials do not agree with that assessment. Such antics likely do not impress the state regulators who are deciding on whether to license the Revel Building.
The decision to launch a freeplay online casino site is at least a positive step. While it likely will collect only a few free players at a time when Golden Nugget/SugarHouse and Resorts/PokerStars are building large player communities, it is a change to build a database and establish an online presence. The TEN Atlantic City New Jersey casino site also is a way for Glenn Straub to show how he might operate an online casino business.
