Revel: Anatomy of a Failure

The year is 2006. Atlantic City enjoyed its biggest casino profit since it legalized gambling in the late 70s, with over $5 billion generated. Its newest casino, the Borgata, had now been open for a few years and secured its place as top-grossing resort in the town. Its Vegas-inspired amenities complemented the more ‘traditional’ hotel-casinos of the boardwalk, and showed that Atlantic City could support such levels of modern luxury. The boardwalk properties thrived as well, though north of Showboat sat a suspicious plot of land, with untapped potential.

Enter Revel.

It was destination to surpass any other in the city, to rival the unstoppable Borgata and breathe new life to an iconic, though admittedly aging, strip of beachfront casinos. Revel was going to have it all, and do things completely differently than its mates. Going after a younger, more affluent crowd, Revel wanted to bring in the posh NYC clientele that had skipped over AC in favor of Vegas. Over a dozen unique dining options, upscale shopping, hotel rooms as modern as can be, steamy spas, nightlife… all overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Oh yeah, and they’d have a casino too. Can’t forget that. This is Atlantic City, after all.

And so the ground was broken for one of the most ambitious projects New Jersey had ever seen. Right from the start, the resort was cursed with omens, notably a plane crash that killed all of the future hotel’s top executives. Then came the downsizing of the hotel’s twin towers, giving it just one. And then of course came the market crash of September 2008. To say that put a dent in construction is an understatement. To say that it marked the decline of Atlantic City in general, continuing downward to this day, is also a major understatement.

Can you spot the giant blue elephant on the boardwalk?

Yet somehow construction continued, after several stops and starts, and with a major monetary gift from the governor. For the sake of the state’s economy, and AC’s morale, Revel had to be completed. It had to do everything it could to be top-of-the-line and attract the rich crowd. It had to turn a profit, even if the resort’s costs ballooned to over $2 billion. (Remember that AC’s casinos at their peak *only* did $5 billion in a year.) It was completely unrealistic for this single property to recoup that kind of debt in it's first few years, Revel would have to be that incredibly popular and successful from day one that it be able to generate more than a third of the city’s best numbers all by itself. Even Borgata couldn’t do that! 

But it had to work. It needed to be given a chance. Finally, after years of drama and speculation, Revel opened in the spring of 2012. Determined to shake off the embarrassing stereotypes and appeal to a new crowd, Revel broke a lot of house rules. No buffet. No easy access. No charter bus accommodations. No smoking. Worst of all, no comps! Yes, believe it or not Revel opened without any kind of player loyalty program. Why though? How could they be so stupid, you ask? Because they felt that if you wanted to come to AC just to gamble, you’d go to a casino you’ve already been to. Why fix what isn’t broken. But… if you want to come to AC to dine, relax, swim, exfoliate and party, Revel was the only place you would want to be. Especially if it’s your first time to the town. And especially if you're young and you’ve got some expendable income.

Remember that casino, that afterthought? Yes, it’s still there. It’s also massive. However it’s not Revel’s main attraction, unlike its rival properties. It’s a casino that exists just because. "And if you’d like to play," Revel said, "that's great! There’s tons to choose from and everything is as new and HD as can be. But there’s the shopping, the nightlife, the restaurants, and the spas too! You know, all those things that are trending positive in your sought-after demographic. Wouldn’t you rather take advantage of our other amazing amenities? We think you would. So when you’re done lighting your money on fire and acting like old people, come stop by our new tapas restaurant! You people like tapas now, right?" #yum #memories #livelaughlove

Ugh.

It’s kind of insulting, isn’t it? Needless to say, Revel did not open like gangbusters, and lived its first few months as a true dark horse. A sprawling, pristine, beautiful property, with uncomfortably high ceilings and large expanses of nothingness, populated by little pockets of people. Even if the place was crowded, it never seemed to be because of all the open space. And although that sounds nice, a perceived lack of action is a death sentence for a casino. The gaming floor was situated about 6 stories off the ground, and even offered vast ocean views in some areas, in turn making it difficult for someone off the boardwalk (the extreme north end of it, mind you) to go in and drop a few bucks. 

State of the art, ahead of its time, you name it.

Come 2013, and Revel is still coasting purely on good graces. Hotel occupancy is decent, restaurant and spa business is ok, and the casino took in as many millions as possible. And the people that did come to the behemoth resort really liked the place! Reviews were consistently strong, but also consistently noticed the vast quietness. For Revel to truly do well, it would have to be overflowing with hotel guests, gamblers and clubgoers. And although Revel wasn't doing horribly, it never had that level of customer exorbitance. And so the loans were barely repaid, and the resort overall lost millions each and every week.

But who could blame the customer? The same problem that plagued Revel also plagued Atlantic City as a whole. This just wasn't a good time. There was the recession, there was Sandy, there were also 11 other casinos vying for business in AC alone... The truth was that the millennial customer just didn't have that kind of money to spend, or a point to make the long drive. Bars and clubs are everywhere, and other shore points like Seaside and Belmar had a firmer grasp on the demographic due to their unpretentiousness. And gambling? Please. "I could just go online for that, and I don't even want to," they said. "Unless your name is Borgata, there's no real reason to drive an extra hour or two out of my way when I can do all my millennial things closer to home. My paycheck from my over-qualified post-grad BS job barely covers the gas money!"

After a year of negative profits, Revel tried to reinvent themselves, in turn stripping themselves of all individuality from their competitors. A comp loyalty program was enacted, and went through more revisions than assumed possible. They also tried to market their casino more aggressively, officially renaming themselves 'Revel Casino-Hotel' and adopting the slogan 'Gamblers Wanted.' They toned down their upscale-ness with a variety of discount food options, free parking, smoking sections, and cheaper room rates. Revel also catered toward the dominant senior citizen demographic by offering Bingo and special gambling bonuses to those 50 and up. At this point, Revel was no different than the other boardwalk casinos, save for their continued lack of a buffet and charter buses.

Yeah, the hell you can't. And is that the age demographic we're going after now? =\

Probably the crown jewel of this whole movement was the spectacular failure known as 'You Can't Lose.' It was advertised as a month where all gamblers could be reimbursed 100% for their losses (which right there is absurdly too good to be true). In reality it only entitled players to slot dollars that were slowly siphoned to their account over a series of weeks. If a week was missed, the remainder of the slot play was forfeited. This caliber of deception destroyed Revel's credibility as a casino and earned them several lawsuits from duped, irate customers. The other casinos could only watch in horror and awe at their neighbor's continued boneheaded moves, and never saw Revel as a threat to their business again.

2014. Revel is really in trouble now. Business is still tepid and millions of dollars are being lost. However the resort continued to pretend like nothing is wrong. They still brought in live talent for shows, top tier DJs for the nightclubs, and even hosted a few fighting matches. But the honeymoon was really over now, and Revel kept this huge cloud over itself, this impending doom that said 'Seriously now, how much longer can this place really last?' It was two years in and the Shops At The Row still had the same 10 or so mini-stores in it, the huge vacancies flanking them still covered by placeholder murals. Customers were continuously upgraded to corner suites simply because they were never being sold. As lovely and modern as Revel was, something just felt more and more off about it. But why? This is the Atlantic City of the future! It's the new Vegas of the east! But it... just isn't.

The resort's mall, in its entirety. Note the lack of actual stores. Or life.

A second bankruptcy filing spelled out Revel's bleak future: find a buyer by the summer, or the  place is closed for good. That was it. No more games, no more hope. The resort simply lost too much money to even give it a chance of turning things around in the coming years. Revel (along with the rest of Atlantic City) held its breath until the midpoint of summer. The Atlantic Club had already closed that January, and Showboat was slated to close by Labor Day, with Trump Plaza soon following. All eyes were on Revel to see if it would join the others and reduce the casino count to a mere eight.

It did.

Revel's final month of operation was nothing but sadness. The property stood as grand as ever, taken care of right until the end. Both the employees and final customers all appeared in a daze, ogling the building from the boardwalk or simply staring at the casino, in disbelief that something so cutting-edge and world-class would cease to exist in a matter of days. There were rows of still-new slot machines in their attract modes, tables of lonely dealers with their decks spread, roulette wheels only spinning by their inertia... And the occasional gambler playing out of sympathy. These were dark days, indeed. 

Revel existed for barely two and a half years. It was Atlantic City's newest, tallest, and most expensive building. It was a sign of a new era, a benchmark for all casinos to follow, a beacon of hope, and a major gamble. But the customers just didn't come in the droves they needed to, corporate made one too many missteps, and Atlantic City's overall sketchiness didn't help.

And now Revel is dead.

Concept art, 2007. What once could have been, and never will be.