Atlantic City civic gadfly Glenn Straub is at it again. In addition to trying to wrest electrical power from Stockton University by way of the Showboat (Stockton is contesting the validity of the quid pro quo in court), he’s threatening to sue the city if it doesn’t 
let him develop Bader Field. In the course of pursuing his latest fascination, Straub appears to have taken his eye off the ball regarding Revel, the original reason he came to the Boardwalk. Reports The Press of Atlantic City, “The city began fining Straub this month for leaving the shuttered casino hotel a firetrap and failing to have competent engineers oversee the property’s alarms and other emergency equipment, city officials said.”
City Council President Frank Gilliam cut to the chase, telling Straub, “The way you can help us is bring Revel on board,” to which Straub said he’d comply if the city could get him some oil to heat the uber-
megaresort. Straub got a smidgen of what he wanted last week when the city council put on hold a deal with Bader Field Sports LLC to convert the former airport to playing fields, a plan that has the backing of Mayor Don Guardian (R). (Straub had bid on Bader and been turned down.) Straub’s rival plan would call for motorsports and equestrian competitions on the site. When Straub played the lawsuit card, Gilliam said, “Mr. Straub has no legal standing to discuss what we should be doing with Bader Field.”
Nor is the Bader window — presumably not smashed by Straub’s giant seagulls — entirely closed to the tycoon. The Bader Field Sports proposal is intended as a temporary fix and Straub might 
have an opportunity down the road, although he says he has no appetite for waiting. He’s been offered it for $450 million but evidently found that price a little too rich for his blood. First, he has to do something, anything with Revel to impress civic leaders, or as Gilliam put it, “I don’t have confidence in Mr. Straub’s ability to be of any service to this city.” As for the developer caught in the middle, Greg Allen, he lamented, “I would be disappointed if it did get tied up in court. The only winners would be attorneys.”
“I don’t mind arguing if I have something to argue about,” said a jocular Straub, telling The Press, “That’s what makes good families, when they have a little controversy.” (One might reply that Straub has created more than “a little” contretemps during his stormy Atlantic City tenure.) We’d suggest he possess his soul in patience. Bader Field will always be there and, in the meantime, Straub needs to get some semblance of Revel up and running. Prioritize, Glenn, prioritize.
* There’s a glimmer of hope for Trump Taj Mahal thanks to the sudden retirement of Trump Entertainment Resorts [sic] CEO 
Bob Griffin. He’s blaming Atlantic City for being mean to his family after he chased Stockton University out of town by enforcing an obscure covenant (that Caesars Entertainment allegedly promised to remove) requiring the Showboat to be operated as a hotel, not a school — a tantrum that had costly consequences for Stockton. “My daughter wasn’t getting play dates. Friends of ours blame us for all of this,” pouted Griffin, whose reign at Trump was nothing short of disastrous.
Griffin, who is not known to have made any personal sacrifices to keep the Taj open, said stripping employees of their health plan and 
other benefits was “is very painful for the people involved, but it is absolutely necessary.” Spoken like someone who’s feeling no pain. Since the workplace cutbacks are still being litigated in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Taj is caught between outgoing TER and incoming Carl Icahn, who won’t commit to take it over until and unless the court rules in his favor. That being the case, Griffin will be replaced by someone within TER, so don’t expect any dramatic new policies.
* Daily fantasy leagues have announced that they’re going to regulate themselves, with former Secretary of Labor Seth Harris 
as their figurehead. I don’t think this is going to fly with states like New York and Illinois, let alone the feds, although Harris issued a statement that “The issues and opportunities facing the fantasy sports industry can be best addressed through an independent agency supported by the industry and its members.” In other words, the states and Congress can bugger off.
Meanwhile, the NFL finds itself walking a narrow margin in the United Kingdom. In its rush to embrace the U.K., the league finds itself in a hotbed of sports betting. Reports the New York Times, “the N.F.L. required that the sports betting machines at Wembley [Stadium] be turned off during games, but fans here Sunday 
happily placed bets from their seats on mobile phones or at a betting parlor near the grounds.” And then there were all those DraftKings* foam fingers in the stands. The company is pursuing a British gaming license, leading Rep. Frank Pallone (D, left) to point out “DraftKings is directly admitting the obvious: Daily fantasy sports is gambling. The N.F.L.’s acceptance of sports betting — as long as it isn’t in the U.S. — is yet another example of the league engaging blatant hypocrisy by supporting and investing in fantasy sports betting while opposing sports betting at casinos and the tracks.” The league would only weakly concede to the NYT that “conditions are different” in Britain. Hypocrisy, thy name is Roger Goodell.
(* The company may have to become “Selection Process Kings” in the U.K. because, in British vernacular, its name means “BeerKings.”)
* That slime among baseball players, Lenny Dykstra, claims he blackmailed umpires over their gambling habits. “I had to do what I had to do to win and to support my family,” claims Dykstra, although most of us support our families and keep it between the lines. Appropriately, Dykstra made these revelations on Colin Cowherd‘s TV show: He’s the repellent Cowherd’s kind of guy.
* Couldn’t Robert DeNiro have shown up for the opening of Studio City Macau not looking like he’d just come from the potting shed? And who knew that Mariah Carey was James Packer‘s main squeeze?
