Revel files appeal of court order letting Atlantic City pursue back taxes

The former Revel Casino Hotel is trying to block Atlantic City from collecting $32 million in unpaid property taxes.

The owners of the former Atlantic City casino, which closed on Sept. 2, filed an appeal Monday of a bankruptcy court order letting Atlantic City hold a tax sale of the unpaid debt.

That is a legal maneuver in which an investor in effect buys a lien against the property and pays the taxes due on it. The investor gets paid when the property owner pays off the tax debt; if that doesn't happen, the investor can foreclose in two years.

Complicating things is the fact that a deal to sell the property to a Canadian firm for $110 million fell apart last week.