Revel announces bankruptcy filing
Quote: DigitalTimQuote: rdw4potusQuote: sodawaterOK, maybe it's not 2000 miles... but come on. There's nothing on the east coast like AC. No one from Boston-NYC-Philly-DC-Baltimore is going to go to Mississippi to gamble. AC is still the only game in town when it comes to a destination resort. The problem is people are spending their gambling dollars on closer casinos in MD, DE, PA, NY, and CT. Those casinos may not be resorts or be so close to other casinos, but they are closer to home. And location is everything.
Location is such a big deal that even Vegas will eventually face the same problems as AC.
Turning Stone is absolutely a destination resort. So is Foxwoods. So is Mohegan Sun. I would argue that Sands is one as well. They're not near other casinos, but they're also higher quality than all but 2 to 4 (Borgata, Revel, maybe Harrah's and Caesars Palace) properties in AC.
And, FWIW, this guy from Philly goes to MS to gamble:-)
How is the boardwalk there rdw4?
Honest inquiry.
Edit:
I'm from Williamstown, NJ. The AC boardwalk is not great, however, taking in the views can be worthwhile.
The boardwalk in Biloxi? I don't quite know how to explain it. Have you been to Vegas? I would say that the Biloxi casinos are more properly connected on the "front" sides (like the strip) than they are on the "back" sides (like the boardwalk). But the marinas and gulf/channel views are pretty great in Biloxi. Personally, I'm a big fan of having both land and sea in view; so the view from the boardwalk straight out into the Atlantic isn't as much fun to me as looking at the barrier islands in Biloxi.
My point was AC has a lot of variety of casinos and I liked being able to get there without an airplane. It has the ability to improve, but the casino operators need to be willing to compete. It doesn't help every time some idiot news report says Pennsylvania has the 2nd biggest gaming market, but omits the fact poor payouts are a big reason for it. I think there are too many casinos in the country and would like when it's time for the casinos to peter out for AC to still be there the way it is. I liked AC and wished after all the 1000s of hours of being on the casino floor, I hadn't been there sooner. I really never even knew really what it was. I found it still to be unique instead of having all the brand new, leased, pathetic, slot machines like every other casino has. I absolutely hate the sophistication of new slots and know they have thought them out too well along with lowered paybacks too much for me to want to gamble on them repeatedly.
Quote: rdw4potusAnd, FWIW, this guy from Philly goes to MS to gamble:-)
How in the world can you go right past a beauty spot like Chester?
So is Fallsview in Niagara Falls for that matter. A very nice casino underneath a hotel with a small shopping mall inside with glorious views of the Falls and the Falls itself 2 blocks away. Come on down.
Atlantic City may have 8 or 9 casinos along its boardwalk, but the problem is most of these (save Revel) are fleabags comparable to downtown LV or Gary, IN. They generally are not great places to gamble, are poorly ventilated, and feel old.
And you get can't the Atlantic City easily unless you are living within a two hour drive. But even then you have many many choices. If you want the ocean and the beaches, AC is the place -- in the summer. Otherwise, you go south to Biloxi where you have an extra few months of warm weather.
Quote: sodawaterWas lack of service really a problem in AC? No... AC was at its all time high in terms of casino win just a few years ago, and then NY, MD, DE, and PA all opened new casinos. And let's not forget about the depression in 2008, as well.
Aside from the mismanagement of the Revel and the abandonment of low-end properties caused by the shrinking market, I don't think poor customer service was AC's problem.
It's just a tough proposition to ask someone from Philly to drive by two or three of their own casinos to drive 90 minutes to AC.
And it will happen to Vegas as more and more people get casinos in their home areas. Vegas's saving grace, so far, is that it's so out in the middle of nowhere that people have to fly there and plan whole trips around flying there. AC wasn't really a place you flew to. It was more of an ad hoc decision to go, or at least not planned to the level of flights. That's why it was so vulnerable to local competition.
As a MD resident and long time AC gambler I think the post above is exactly right. AC thrived as recently as 07-08...then literally every state near them opened widespread full casino gaming. They got crushed by the massive increase in competition.. period. All this talk about cust. service misses the overwhelmingly obvious competition angle. I'm sure if NY, PA, DE, MD all got rid of casinos tomorrow. AC would have a resurgence almost overnight.
So yes AC/NJ failed to reinvest adequate capital in the surrounding area to spruce up AC itself..and that is contributing to their rapid demise. But the city is still the only major casino resort on the east coast of the U.S. with a beach and multiple casinos. So while Turning Stone, Foxwoods etc...are great properties ..they are one resort off an interstate exit. Once you are there; you are stuck there pretty much. If AC is willing to work harder(i.e.-money) to brand itself as a resort and maintain quality properties. They can survive. Will they get back to the boom times of the 80's and 90's....no probably not.
I drive by half a dozen closer casinos at this point to get to AC..I still go, just not as often. Most people are the same way. They might go for a weekend getaway but not for a quick Sunday day trip or something.
Quote: SanchoPanzaHow in the world can you go right past a beauty spot like Chester?
Embarrassing story time. I take the blue route (I-476) to get to both the airport and Harrah's. When I was leaving to go to Louisville the last time I went to Horseshoe there, I drove to Harrah's out of habit. I was out of the car and walking past the liberty bell inside before I realized that I - at that point, desperately - needed to be at the airport instead.
Last Updated: 2:21 PM, February 24, 2013, Posted: 9:38 PM, February 23, 2013
Last May, when the Revel casino opened in Atlantic City, the traffic light out front was reset on a four-minute cycle — in anticipation of epic traffic jams, one taxi driver says. Today, that cabby turns off his engine at the light to save gas. He’s one of only a handful of cars waiting.
Revel was suppose to be a new kind of casino — no low-cost buffets, no smoking and a casino on a different floor than reception, with windows that looked on to the best Atlantic City beach, so gamblers did not lose track of place and time. It would be a resort that happened to have gambling.
Instead, it’s the casino that took Wall Street for $2.5 billion. On Tuesday, Revel reached a debt-restructuring deal in preparation for a March bankruptcy filing.
This tale of fool’s gold begins in the mid-1990s. Morgan Stanley bought some AC land for $70 million to develop and chose Kevin DeSanctis to plan the casino. It seemed a logical choice. DeSanctis had started his career as a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike, then ended up as a gaming enforcer. The 61-year-old then joined the casino industry, rising through the ranks — running the Trump Plaza and serving as a Mirage executive (working closely with Steve Wynn) — and later becoming chief operating officer of Penn National Gaming.
Detailed coverage at nypost
Quote: boymimboMohegan Sun and Foxwoods are destination resorts in as much as Windsor is. Come on, you wake up in the morning with a beautiful view of the Renaissance Towers in Detroit, its colors on the GM tower changing from Blue to Red and back to Blue again. There's a large enough casino downstairs to offer you all the games that you like at the price that you like. What more can you ask for?
So is Fallsview in Niagara Falls for that matter. A very nice casino underneath a hotel with a small shopping mall inside with glorious views of the Falls and the Falls itself 2 blocks away. Come on down.
Atlantic City may have 8 or 9 casinos along its boardwalk, but the problem is most of these (save Revel) are fleabags comparable to downtown LV or Gary, IN. They generally are not great places to gamble, are poorly ventilated, and feel old.
And you get can't the Atlantic City easily unless you are living within a two hour drive. But even then you have many many choices. If you want the ocean and the beaches, AC is the place -- in the summer. Otherwise, you go south to Biloxi where you have an extra few months of warm weather.
Quote: vendman1AC thrived as recently as 07-08...then literally every state near them opened widespread full casino gaming. They got crushed by the massive increase in competition.. period. All this talk about cust. service misses the overwhelmingly obvious competition angle. I'm sure if NY, PA, DE, MD all got rid of casinos tomorrow. AC would have a resurgence almost overnight.
So yes AC/NJ failed to reinvest adequate capital in the surrounding area to spruce up AC itself..and that is contributing to their rapid demise. But the city is still the only major casino resort on the east coast of the U.S. with a beach and multiple casinos. So while Turning Stone, Foxwoods etc...are great properties ..they are one resort off an interstate exit. Once you are there; you are stuck there pretty much. If AC is willing to work harder(i.e.-money) to brand itself as a resort and maintain quality properties. They can survive. Will they get back to the boom times of the 80's and 90's....no probably not.
I drive by half a dozen closer casinos at this point to get to AC..I still go, just not as often. Most people are the same way. They might go for a weekend getaway but not for a quick Sunday day trip or something.
Atlantic City thrived as a monopoly for 30 years. As soon as viable competition started up, the dumps took growing hits, thanks to the continual f-u in-your-face attitude on the part of both managements and staffs. Another factor is that more and more people saw how well they were treated in other places, and not just Vegas. It is no accident that Spirit Airlines has resumed its very popular nonstops to LAS, now from PHL.
Plenty of land to build one.
Think of Disneyland: Mickey Mouse, with dice.
Quote: MrVAC would do well to have a major theme park there as well.
Some of us, no doubt, continue to remember Tivoli Pier.
"Atlantic City had a plan for its resurgence within the casino gambling industry. Revel, a project that was supposed to reinvent and revolutionize the gaming industry, was coming in and was going to breathe life into the struggling AC casino industry."
Pretty funny in retrospect..
http://www.casinogamblingweb.com/gambling-news/casino-gambling/atlantic_city_hurt_by_revel_s_bankruptcy_plans_57971.html
Quote: SanchoPanzaSome of us, no doubt, continue to remember Tivoli Pier.
I sure do! It was really something!
Quote: treetopbuddyunder new terms of the Revel bankruptcy.....SMOKING WILL BE ALLOWED! Hilarious! Smoking in the Noodle Bar!
I predicted when Revel opened that they
would allow smoking within a year. Dumb
idea to begin with.. And I hate smoke..
Somewhere UKStages and BHappy are crying. Yet I dont see this making a difference until they are willing to make the decision to go after players like the other casinos do. Smoking or lack of it wasnt their problem, alienating players from the start was.
Revel saw early signs of trouble in construction costs, marketing plan
By HOA NGUYEN, Staff Writer | Posted: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 1:30 am
A series of missteps that helped nudge Revel toward bankruptcy emerged as early as last spring just as executives were raising their flute glasses in a sunrise toast commemorating the megaresort’s opening, officials said in court documents Monday.
Construction overruns and fallacies in their marketing plan were among those early signs, Revel officials said in court documents filed Monday, initiating the start of bankruptcy protection proceedings less than a year after the $2.4 billion megaresort opened.
“Some of the debtors’ early wounds were caused by third parties; others were due to an act of God; still others, it must be acknowledged, were self-inflicted,” Dennis Stogsdill, Revel’s chief restructuring officer, said in documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden.
The company said in filings it intends to address some of the problems identified with the resort by adding amenities. It also will create a designated smoking area, reversing its policy as the only no-smoking facility in Atlantic City.
Judge Judith Wizmur is expected to preside over 16 motions Revel has put forward as part of its first-day hearing into the matter scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Wednesday in Courtroom 4B. The motions include requests to allow Revel to pay employees, certain taxes and fees and honor customer programs. Having filed for bankruptcy, Revel needs the permission from the judge to draw from its assets to pay those bills. --acpress
