Revel Casino to Shut by September 10

ATLANTIC CITY - The embattled and forever-troubled Revel Casino Hotel will close by Sept. 10, nearly 2 1/2 years after it opened, its ownership said Tuesday.

Some 3,200 employees will be out of work as a result of the closing, adding to the thousands more who are also slated to lose their jobs at two other Atlantic City casinos by mid-September.

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Revel Casino to shut by Sept. 10

This has been a doomed project from the start and despite government intervention still failed.

AliHajiSheik said:

Revel Casino to shut by Sept. 10

This has been a doomed project from the start and despite government intervention still failed.

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When the economy is bad it makes little sense to spend money in casinos.

Casinos are also growing all over the East Coast. AC is a dump, there's nothing inviting or charming (or even all that pleasant) about it -- go one block off the boardwalk, and it's like a war zone. I may be wrong, but I think the casino owners never did anything to improve the town, and now it's biting them. The town skated by for decades because it had a local monopoly on gambling. Now that's over, and AC is pretty much screwed.

I wonder if the casino will turn into a favela in the sky....

fmw said:

When the economy is bad it makes little sense to spend money in casinos.

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And yet people do in droves. Regardless, it never made sense to spend that much money in a craphold like AC, aka, Camden with a boardwalk.

AliHajiSheik said:

Revel Casino to shut by Sept. 10

This has been a doomed project from the start and despite government intervention still failed.

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OMFG I can't believe it. That is really going to hurt AC which has already been hurt by casino closures. It will also be an eyesore - have you been there? It's gigantic.

Visbek said:

Casinos are also growing all over the East Coast. AC is a dump, there's nothing inviting or charming (or even all that pleasant) about it -- go one block off the boardwalk, and it's like a war zone. I may be wrong, but I think the casino owners never did anything to improve the town, and now it's biting them. The town skated by for decades because it had a local monopoly on gambling. Now that's over, and AC is pretty much screwed.

I wonder if the casino will turn into a favela in the sky....

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When was the last time you were in AC?

Maryland casinos are killing AC.

jmotivator said:

Maryland casinos are killing AC.

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One's in PA too, as well as online gambling in some states. Shame - the days of the glitzy opulent Casino's are going the way of the dodo.

jmotivator said:

Maryland casinos are killing AC.

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So are Pennsylvania's.

tres borrachos said:

When was the last time you were in AC?

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It's been a few years. Once was more than enough.

Why? Did the entire town get a major remake last year? Was the recession good to AC?

The crime rate in AC is still fairly high, by the way -- around 10x the national average, and a little more than half as bad as Camden.

Visbek said:

It's been a few years. Once was more than enough.

Why? Did the entire town get a major remake last year? Was the recession good to AC?

The crime rate in AC is still fairly high, by the way -- around 10x the national average, and a little more than half as bad as Camden.

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You said if you step one block of the Boardwalk, it's like a war zone. That was true in the 1980s, but hasn't been the case for years. They bought all those tenements and slums, tore them down, and invested many many millions in tons of stores, restaurants, etc.

AC still has its bad sections. Most cities do. It still has high crime, but the Boardwalk is actually very safe, the Steel Pier is safe and clean, and you can walk it from one end to the other, even with kids, and not feel threatened.

The recession wasn't great to any city. I knew AC well before casinos went in there. It used to be like Camden, which unlike AC, has absolutely no redeeming qualities at all. None. AC has a lot. It's a fun place.

fmw said:

When the economy is bad it makes little sense to spend money in casinos.

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Nice quip, but just a misguided impression. 1) Generally, casinos are one of the more recession proof businesses (generally); 2) the economy is no longer considered "bad" (soft, perhaps) 3) the real issue is the over-saturation of gambling in the US... and Atlantic City is a hell-hole, and therefore this is a bad product.

Casinos Close as Revenue Falls in Gambling-Saturated U.S. - Businessweek

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=93d5f57f-be2a-48e1-8591-3201172aa0c8

Its a "supply-side" problem.

tres borrachos said:

OMFG I can't believe it. That is really going to hurt AC which has already been hurt by casino closures. It will also be an eyesore - have you been there? It's gigantic.

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I have not, but somehow the Borgata survives and it has a worse location off the boardwalk.

tres borrachos said:

You said if you step one block of the Boardwalk, it's like a war zone. That was true in the 1980s...

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I'm pretty sure I was there less than 10 years ago. I have vague memories of a strip joint a few blocks off the boardwalk. Is that what you mean by fun?

I did feel like the boardwalk was safe, but I didn't feel that way almost anywhere else in AC. And at the risk of sounding all macho, I don't scare easy.

There probably is a bit more positive stuff to AC than I saw, but it is a one-industry town. I think they're in big trouble if more casinos wind up folding.

AliHajiSheik said:

I have not, but somehow the Borgata survives and it has a worse location off the boardwalk.

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Borgata is great. Very popular with the young crowd. Reasonable prices all around, too.

Revel was destined for failure with its business model. All expensive restaurants, high end shopping, no smoking in the casinos, expensive drinks, expensive rooms, and so on. Bad location but really got bad after Hurricane Sandy. Revel was supposed to be a "destination" hotel which IMO has no place in AC.

Visbek said:

I'm pretty sure I was there less than 10 years ago. I have vague memories of a strip joint a few blocks off the boardwalk. Is that what you mean by fun?

I did feel like the boardwalk was safe, but I didn't feel that way almost anywhere else in AC. And at the risk of sounding all macho, I don't scare easy.

There probably is a bit more positive stuff to AC than I saw, but it is a one-industry town. I think they're in big trouble if more casinos wind up folding.

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I never saw a strip joint, but that doesn't make it a war zone.

AC is a 1-industry town, but then again, so are most of the towns along the Jersey shore. Wildwood, Cape May, Point Pleasant, Belmar, etc., all tourist towns.

I've been on the Boardwalk in AC more times than I can remember. My husband & I are both Bally's cardholders - my husband is a Platinum, I'm a Diamond. We can go to Bally's, Caesar's, and a few others, and we get comps and all sorts of goodies, and we get to go everywhere - Vegas, New Orleans, etc. We get show tickets too, tons of them. We go at least 5 times a year, sometimes alone, sometimes with other couples. We actually were just there last weekend for a long weekend alone. I got tired of being in the casinos and it was so nice, I spent time on the beach, and also walked the entire Boardwalk from the now shuttered Atlantic Club all the way to Revel. Nobody bothered me and I was never afraid. I saw tons of families, grandmothers, business men, etc.