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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Associated Press) -- Atlantic City's former Revel casino remains shut, but it's gathering potential customers in case it ever does open.
The casino, which owner Glenn Straub plans to reopen under the new name Ten, has launched a free-play, just-for-fun gambling site on its website at https://play.tenacnj.com .
It allows visitors to register and receive credits for online slot machines and table games, just the same as New Jersey's regulated internet gambling sites.
No money changes hands, although players can buy credits after their free ones expire.
For now, though, just-for-fun, no-cash-involved gambling is the only kind Ten can offer.
Straub is suing New Jersey gambling regulators, arguing he doesn't need a casino license because he has hired Connecticut developer Robert Landino to run the casino.
The state Casino Control Commission last month ruled that Straub retains sufficient control over the property that he needs to obtain a casino license. Straub says he is simply a landlord renting out property to a business that will conduct gambling, but state regulators don't see it that way. An appeals court will weigh in later this year.
Neither man has applied for an internet gambling license. But Straub says he expects Landino will do so.
"It's going to be a full-blown casino," Straub said late Monday. "If everyone else is doing (internet gambling), he'll do it."
There are two ways a company can become licensed to offer internet gambling in New Jersey: obtaining a license for a physical, brick-and-mortar casino and then applying to offer online gambling, or partnering with an existing casino license. Only people physically within New Jersey's borders can legally use the online gambling sites.
Asked if he could see himself applying for a license to conduct internet gambling, either on his own or in connection with another casino's license, Straub replied, "Hell no."
Landino would not comment beyond saying, "We are simply trying to make progress where we can."
Most of New Jersey's licensed internet gambling providers set up free-play sites before they launched in order to recruit potential customers and get them interested in the site and the casino's brand, including the Borgata, Caesars Entertainment, Tropicana, Golden Nugget and Resorts.
