Revel seeks removal from PILOT program

The owner of the Atlantic City facility is asking a judge to be removed from the list of casinos that pay property taxes.

US.- Glenn Straub, owner of the Revel Casino Hotel that is currently closed in Atlantic City, is now suing New Jersey over the payments that the facility is obligated to make in lieu or property taxes. Straub has asked a Superior Court judge to remove the Revel casino from the list of facilities that pay Atlantic City.

The owner of the closed casino claims that the property should be taxed as an empty building and not as an operating gambling facility because it was already closed when the legislation took effect a year ago. The PILOT program required casinos collectively pay US$120 million in 2017 instead of property taxes in a move to stabilise Atlantic City’s tax collection base, which was on a tightrope after a series of appeals that led to a budget deficit.

Straub said in his lawsuit dated October 14 that the property should be exempt from the program as he didn’t own it when it was a casino. Revel closed in 2014 after two years of operations and hasn’t opened again because of licensing issues.

“The PILOT Act penalizes it by requiring it to pay based on the fact that at one time the property was licensed to operate as a casino, but does not generate the level of revenue as casino properties because no casino operates there and, in fact, never did operate there in the entire ownership period of the plaintiff,” said the compaint, as Press of Atlantic City reported.

Straub currently owes more than US$8.3 million in taxes even if the facility doesn’t feature gaming, and he believes that the property should only be taxes US$5.1 million. “It’s crazy. It’s not a casino, because the state says we need a license. They are penalizing us millions and millions of dollars.”