Glenn Straub‘s helter-skelter regime at Revel will continue at least a while more. He’s talking about reopening the HQ nightclub in July and 
evicting ACR Energy Partners from Revel’s power plant, getting one monkey off his back. He did and yet didn’t deny S&G‘s report that he’s selling the megaresort … not for less than $200 million anyway. But what “international people” in their right mind are going to pay 200 million clams for a casino Straub got for $82 million — a 150% markup? (Vincent Crandon, CEO of MidOil USA, has been tipped as a possible buyer.) He claimed to the Philadelphia Business Journal to have international parties on the hook but pardon us if we remain skeptical.
In the meantime, Straub is hinting at bringing in tribal operators to run the casino on his behalf. (I’m not at liberty to say who, but think “Florida.”) The colorful casino owner’s job just got a bit harder, chief engineer John Lezenby having given his notice, saying, “It wasn’t fun babysitting an empty building.” Revel’s staff is now reduced to nine engineers and four security guards.
* Meanwhile, further upstate, Hard Rock International and Meadowlands Racetrack stopped fan-dancing and unveiled their plans 
for a $1 billion Hard Rock-branded casino, only 14 miles from Newark Liberty International Airport. “The new casino would be designed to attract visitors from not only the 14 million adults in northern New Jersey and New York City, but also international travelers, making it a premiere entertainment destination,” said Hard Rock CEO James Allen. Track owner Jeff Gural painted the move as a counterstrike against Pennsylvania and New York, saying, “We want to bring people back from Bethlehem, bringing back the people in northern New Jersey who now go to Aqueduct or Yonkers.”
Significantly absent from the event was state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D), who controls the legislative calendar and has made no 
secret of his preference for a 2016 vote on amending the constitution to remove Atlantic City‘s monopoly on casino gambling. Gural chafed at the idea of getting lost in all the hoo-ha over presidential politics — as well as the cost of advertising: “A commercial in 2016 is going to cost three times what it costs this year. Frankly, I’d rather wait until 2017.”
Plans for the Meadowlands casino are still in flux. The iconic, giant guitar marquee will be present but Allen and Gural are undecided about whether to build their own concert venue or contract with the nearby Izod Center for big events. Controversy over the project isn’t just restricted to its effect on Atlantic City. Local power players aren’t necessarily fans of its potential impact on area traffic.
* The question of the whether the Mashpee Wampanoags will qualify for a casino in southeastern Massachusetts still drags on … and on … and on. State officials are paralyzed by the fear of losing out on a 17% tax share, promised to the state by then-Gov. Deval Patrick 
(D). As Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby says, “it’s pretty obvious to everybody that the uncertainty about the tribe’s status contributes to a lack of decisiveness on the part of the interested parties, on the part of the Gaming Commission and on the part of the legislature when they drafted the bill in the first place,” and you can include Crosby among the indecisive.
* “Most Hoosiers know that I oppose an expansion of gaming in Indiana, but I recognize that gaming has become an important part of 
the economy of many communities in our state and is an important part of our state budget.” That’s how Gov. Mike Pence (R) explained his ‘executive inaction’ whereby two gambling-reform bills become law without his signature. One permits riverboat casinos to move ashore (’bout time!) while the other gives some extra flexibility to how the state’s horseracing industry spends its money. Pence did, however, nix a bill that would have made it legal to bet on the ponies over the Internet. The governor explained it as being consistent with his opposition to online gambling while Centaur Gaming COO Jim Brown responded, “We are disappointed in the short term for our host communities. They would have benefited from the jobs created.”
* If you didn’t sell your Caesars Entertainment shares while they were still in double-digits, all I can say is ‘told you so.’
* Kudos to Warner Gaming for not being shy to make capex reinvestment in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
