Tropicana Casino Forfeiture Upheld, No Practical Alternative
So much water has gone under the bridge since the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City lost its license, a New Jersey appeals court was left to either rubber-stamp the proceedings which had occurred over the last year, or send the entire business structure of the casino into chaos. Fortunately, the court agreed with previous decisions and backed actions which were taken by state regulators.
The New Jersey State Casino Control Commission found its moves vindicated by the judgment of the appeals court, which heard a case brought by the former owners of the Tropicana that the license had been revoked unjustly.
Citing "massive staff layoffs" combined with a "cleanliness crisis", the court found the decision to deny the license to owner Columbia Sussex and force a sale of the casino to be proper, in that the management had failed to meet its obligation to maintain the casino as a first-class establishment.
The judges stated in their written opinion, "The findings made by the commission that Tropicana lacked financial integrity and responsibility, as well as business ability, are amply supported by the record."
The Tropicana president, Mark Giannantonio, asserted he no longer worked for Columbia Sussex, but for trustee and retired state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein, and had done so for months while reorganizing and restructuring the hotel and casino operations.
Stein has also had the venue up for bids for months, recently rejecting a first series of offers to begin a new round of bidding. If the court had found against the state, mass confusion would have reigned at one of Atlantic City's most pivotal and crucial projects at a time when the area has economic trouble enough.
