Tropicana Entertainment has formally petitioned the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for the return of its former Atlantic City casino. Oh, to be in the room when the arguments are thrashed out!
Short of conducting an exorcism of the spirit of Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III, it's hard to see how the NJCCC will be able to bring itself to do a 180 on this matter. (Especially when TropEnt's publicity releases still flow from Yung's mouthpieces at Beacon Advisors.)
But if TropEnt can convincingly demonstrate both liquidity and independence, it's hard to argue against it. One might feel otherwise had Justice Gary Stein not made such a total clusterfuck of the attempted sale of the Trop. Heaven only knows if even the pallid Cordish Co. bid will still be on the table by the time the New Jersey Supreme Court gets around to adjudicating TropEnt's forcible ejection from the Garden State, which could take several months.
But CEO Scott Butera, whose scattergun public pronouncements are becoming a matter of routine, may have shot himself in (or very near) the foot this time. His petition's assertion that "it is imperative that competent professionals, experienced in casino operations, be brought to bear," perhaps unintentionally implies that Pam Popielarski and the current Trop management team are incompetent and inexperienced. Which, since they were appointed under the auspices of the NJCCC, probably isn't the best way to go about making friends and influencing regulators.
Butera's got a well-respected sidekick in the person of former NJCCC Chairman Bradford Smith. Maybe he ought to let Smith do the talking, at least in situations where a modicum of diplomacy is required.
