From NY Times – Known simply as Revel, the newest addition to this gambling city was going to be different.
The emphasis was on luxury, with the Himalayan salt grotto in the spa, the botanic garden winding toward a rooftop pool, the Michelin chefs instead of all-you-can-eat buffets. There was no smoking in its 47 stories, and with floor-to-ceiling windows offering vistas onto the Atlantic Ocean, you could almost forget the seedier streets at its back. There was a casino, but it was self-contained on one floor, as if it were an aside. This was a resort, its promoters said, that happened to have gambling.
Little more than a year after opening, Revel is sorry. Deeply, dearly sorry.
And it is an expensive apology. As it fights its way back from bankruptcy, Revel announced that it would refund all slot losses and match all other casinos’ promotions for the month of July. Revel cost $2.4 billion to open and has spent millions more in recent months to install diner-fare restaurants, more slot machines and air filtration systems — because it now allows smoking, too. Buttons worn by employees and billboards along the Atlantic City Expressway declare its new slogan: “Gamblers Wanted.” And its new official name: Revel Casino Hotel.
It is just another spin of the wheel here, where the casino industry that revived an ailing beach resort a generation ago is now itself in need of reviving. Revenues have fallen 40 percent since their peak in 2006, as new casinos in neighboring states have taken away gamblers. Revel, hailed by Gov. Chris Christie as a “turning point” for the city when it opened in April 2012, lost $111 million its first year. And last year, Pennsylvania displaced Atlantic City as the gambling capital of the East, according to the American Gaming Association.
Mr. Christie came into office with a five-year plan to turn Atlantic City around, establishing a new tourism district and a $30 million marketing campaign to promote the city as more than just a gambling destination. “Do AC,” the ads encouraged, as casinos rushed to promote their nongambling attractions: concerts, shopping, a gay nightclub, the beach.
