$2.4B Revel casino shuts down after just 2 years
Workers put up chains around the $2.4 Revel Casino Hotel after it closed on Sept. 2, 2014, after just two years in operation CBS PHILLY
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It opened with a bang one day at dawn a little over 2 years ago amid high hopes it would turn around Atlantic City’s struggling casino market.
But the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel went out with a whimper in the morning Tuesday as its casino closed a day after the hotel checked out its last guest.
The property that debuted at sunrise on April 2, 2012, with its then-president joining New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in a blueberry smoothie toast quietly ended its operations as the last handful of gamblers, who never turned out in great enough numbers to keep Revel alive, filed out of the sleek glass tower.
“When I started, it was promising. We had high hopes,” said Liditze Diaz, a restaurant worker at Revel. “Then we started hearing rumors, but I thought, ‘No way this place is going to close. It’s too new, too pretty.’ It’s hard to believe.”
CBS Philly reports that workers put up chains around the facility after it closed.
Revel became the second Atlantic City casino to shut down over Labor Day weekend, joining the Showboat, which shuttered its doors Sunday afternoon. Trump Plaza is closing on Sept. 16, and the Atlantic Club closed in January.
Thus, Atlantic City, which started the year with 12 casinos, will have eight before summer is over. Many casino analysts and industry executives say they expect the remaining casinos to fare better financially with less competition.
