South Florida developer says he plans to invest USD 1.5 billion in the Revel Casino Hotel

The hotel has been in the news of late as the setting of Baltimore Raven's running back Ray Rice's domestic violence incident in February.

Straub, 67, is the owner of the 2,200-acre Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington. He said last week that the Revel — built at a cost of $2.4 billion — occupies just one of eight city blocks he’s targeting in Atlantic City.

Straub owns the 2,200-acre Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington. In a phone interview, the investor was cagey about his vision for Atlantic City. “We won’t tell everybody what it is until we get all the sites tied down,” Straub said. The developer did offer one comment, though: He hinted that gambling will be only a small part of his grand vision.

The Showboat casino closed last month, the latest sign of Atlantic City’s slipping status as a gambling mecca. Straub scoffed at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s suggestion that allowing sports betting would boost Atlantic City’s flagging fortunes.  “That’s like giving aspirin to a cancer patient,” Straub said. “That’s not going to work.”

In an interview with The Palm Beach Post, Straub discussed the possibility of creating a cutting-edge research center in Atlantic City. In a separate interview with Bloomberg News, Straub spoke of creating a destination for such sports as women’s basketball and skateboarding.