Nothing but financial problems at Revel AC

Heading for Bankruptcy,City threatening to foreclose for property taxes owed,contractors suing for millions owed,just some of the stuff I have read in the paper lately. Also, I think the lowest casino performance in the city.
I'm not a finance guy,but it sounds like they're in big trouble unless they can work some kind of deal to keep the big wolf away from the door.

 

AC is dead and not ever coming back. This is the last nail in that coffin. Revel should not have been built, but it has. What they need to do is close up 3 of the older casino's and have less gaming. Maybe rebuild the AC boardwalk hall into a state of the art arena to battle philly area for real concerts/sporting events! Revel should be sold to a real gaming operator and hope it can do something. The borgata is the place to be there, and still will be. Revel has no real casino feel to it, its a resort. Nobody goes to Atlantic city for a resort feel, its a gaming town, which is slowly dying! Its a huge mess, but I think gaming is over saturated with so many states opening up now. Gambling should have been kept to Vegas and Atlantic city only in this country. Now everyone including the Native Americans want in. Not Good!

 

I visited Revel for the first time over the Thanksgiving holiday. The casino is actually quite nice - it reminds me a lot of the Aria casino. Not too crazy about the dining options, and the outside of the hotel looks like a high-tech office building with a bizarre golf ball on top (?). Next to the Borgata (which is the only place I will stay in AC and I agree will always be #1)IMO it is without a doubt the second best looking casino in AC.

The biggest problem with Revel is that they did what The Cosmopolitan did when they opened in Vegas - they thought they could position themselves as the premiere destination in the city and command insane prices for rooms and that people would flock there in droves and pay anything to be "in" and stay and play there. They did not seem to realize that Atlantic City is not Vegas and will never be anything close to Vegas. Atlantic City is mainly a gambler's destination. Yes, people go to Vegas to gamble, but it has so much more to offer in the way of shows, entertainment and off strip activities. Vegas also has the advantage of superior weather conditions over AC. And don't even get me started about the terrible slum-like neighborhoods right off the AC Boardwalk...

Even the Cosmo had to eventually offer better room rates and deals to bring people in, and they are still not doing great. It really is a shame though, because Revel is a nice property, but whoever is in charge is running it straight into the ground.

 

The only surprising thing about this story is that it has taken this long for this to get to this point. Since the day it opened everyone said how cool the place was and how much they liked it but how few people were there gambling.

As one of the other posters stated - this casino should probably never have been built.

Overall as jay stated ac is in for hard times if the proliferation of gambling on the east coast continues as it appears it is going to with Steve wynn flying in this week an Ny city possibly getting 1 or more casinos.

 

New York City already has two casinos - or racinos, if you will.

One at Aqueduct Race track in Queens:

http://www.rwnewyork.com/index.php

And Empire City, which is in Yonkers right near the New York City borderline:

http://www.empirecitycasino.com/

 

A good by product for me & Mrs. JG

All the free rooms we can handle due to I guess the slow down in AC. We may just sell our house and move in the casino's.
Probably be some shuffling around ,but despite all the problems I think AC will still endure.

 

The Revel is trying to borrow more money (for the second time) just to cover everyday operating expenses, not a good sign!

 

Agree with others. AC needs to stop trying to follow the Vegas model of becoming a hip party destination - its not going to work. Vegas is a tourist destination city in the middle of nowhere. AC essentially caters to a specific region of a couple hundred mile radius that is the most densely packed and wealthiest region in the country. I live in NYC, if people want to go partying, great restaurants, the best shows, they'll come here. Given where AC is positioned in driving proximity to at least 3 major cities and even outside of those cities heavily populated high-income areas, AC isn't going to be able to easily compete for entertainment options.

With gambling opening up in more and more areas I suppose AC decided to go the other way, but instead they should be doubling down on gambling. They need to tear down the dying casinos like the various Trump ones that frankly feel like morgues inside its no wonder they keep going bankrupt. Build up good casinos with good gaming options and generous offers for people to come there and I'm sure people in places like Pennsylvania will make the extra hour drive to go to AC versus their new local casinos.

 

agree with others comments-----revel had financing problems before it ever opened,construction was stopped for a long time-----the new jersey governor has done everything he could to enhance the whole casino district,however ac will never be a destination resort,mainly for bus trippers and those who drive from new york,north jersey and the philly areas------one is fairly safe in the casinos and on the boadwalk but do not venture any further,read the ac press on the crime reports for the week,the police have their hands full---even inside the casinos in the boardwalk area one sees low income-type locals wandering around 'pan-handling,bumming cigaretts and using the toilet facilities---

possible changes revel can make to increase their gambling revenue[nite-clubs and restaurants seem to get a decent draw]:
1-open a buffet
2-initiate a bus program
3-permit smoking in designated areas of the gambling floor as well as rooms---some casinos in ac cut back on smoking areas years past only to expand when they determined that they were losing customers to pa casinos-----as of now you need to leave the casino and go to the boardwalk area--
4-offer full pay video poker games at all levels,now have only short pay games---

 

And if I'm not mistaken table gaming has been approved by Gov Cuomo.
In the summer I went and stayed at Revel (comped) and it's a beautiful property, but build to fail. Most people will not go to AC to spend $20 on a burger or $4.00 on a small cup of coffee. Yes, their nightclub will do and is doing well, but can a nightclub, which is only busy Friday and Saturday night sustain a whole resort? Obviously not.

Revel and Cosmo is a product of bean counters who told a room full of people "hey, you don't need gamblers, just cater to the young and stupid." The thing is though, the young and stupid maxed out their cards, their parent's income given the economy the past years probably got cut or didn't grow so they weren't able to bail out junior.

 

Great thread and discussion.

Awesome questions Abfab. Love the points about the youth. First, they are probably not thinking about "throwing away money" quite like they would in Vegas where anything goes and excessive indulgence is apart of the experience. And yes, many people my age will go to places like Vegas probably once in a couple of years and not frequently which is what places like Vegas and AC need. They need to focus on the retired and mid-age crowd who have the money and make the time. I am very much an anomaly; the people I have visited AC or Vegas with can only handle it infrequently. Unlike Vegas which has a younger clientele at least, AC is mostly mid-age or retired crowd and is predominantly bussed in. Why they are ignoring or disregarding these groups is really beyond me. The whole focus on young and high-end will bite everybody. The logic makes me scratch my head...especially with Revel.

I have visited AC quite a bit of times but have yet to go see Revel. The nightlife in AC is pretty dead until the weekend. If nightlife was part of their business strategy, yes they were built to fail. Sure I would love more entertainment options in AC than there currently is but the rate of development with regard to entertainment is too slow for me to take an interest in it right now. I so believe however that AC will survive and perhaps in some decades may even thrive but it did need to weather out the storm first so Revel is premature. Sucks for them, truly.

 

Was pretty dead thursday night

Maybe the time of year or Sandy or both but winter is dead in AC anyway.Stll some FEMA guys in town.

 

No buffet in Revel? huh?
No smoking = no Asian players; mostly gangsters(Yakuza) playing high stakes BJ and Poker in AC. The riff-raff play roullette for $10.

As for the casinos, I could live without AC Hilton(locals' dump), Tropicana, is too far; Bally's, Caesar's are good, Claridge&Sands closed;
Taj, Showboat are good; and Marina, Harrah's, Borgata are class A.

If Revel goes, I hope Hilton, Resorts, Plaza as well. Perceived quality will be higher, rather than quantity.

PS: Mohegan Sun isnt doing well either.