Entering from the Boardwalk, they had to take a vertiginous escalator up four flights to reach the casino floor. It also started at a huge disadvantage by not having a pre-existing database of gamblers to solicit, in the way that casinos owned by nationwide companies like Caesars Entertainment or Tropicana Entertainment can.Ĭustomers found Revel's design off-putting as well, said Joe Lupo, senior vice president of the Borgata, whose upscale market Revel appeared to target. At the same time, Revel didn't have a plan to successfully market to the traditional Atlantic City customer.'įire on cargo ship with lithium-ion batteries off of Alaska port is put out But the market that Revel foresaw for its property just didn't materialize, partially because of the growing perception that the city wasn't ready for that kind of customer.

'That's certainly what happened with Borgata more than 10 years ago. 'If there had been a range of new attractions and potential customers with enough discretionary income, I think that Atlantic City could have absorbed the new capacity,' said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. High room and restaurant prices hurt, too. By the time those decisions were reversed, it was already too late. That included Atlantic City's only total smoking ban, which alienated many gamblers the lack of a buffet and daily bus trips to and from the casino and the absence of a players' club.

The idea behind Revel was to open a totally different resort, a seaside pleasure palace that just happened to have a casino as one of its features. When it opened in April 2012, it was so laden with debt that it couldn't bring in enough revenue to cover it. It ran out of money halfway through construction and had to drop its plans for a second hotel tower while scrambling for the remaining $1 billion or so it needed to finish the project. The casino broke ground just before the Great Recession.

Revel casino update