Why This Billion Dollar Casino Lost Everything

My book, The Times You Grew Up With, takes you back: https://paulmcallister.store Revel Casino was the most expensive casino ever built in Atlantic City — a $2.4 billion glass tower designed to transform the Boardwalk into a luxury destination. It was bankrupt in under a year. Before Revel opened its doors in April 2012, Morgan Stanley had already walked away from $932 million. The state of New Jersey promised $261 million in tax incentives that were never paid. The casino floor sat six stories above the street, the building banned smoking, and the restaurants were priced for Manhattan — all while Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware were opening casinos that stole Atlantic City’s drive-in customers for good. Two Chapter 11 bankruptcies. Twenty-eight months of operation without a single profitable quarter. Revel closed on September 2, 2014 — the third of four Atlantic City casinos to shut down that year. Brookfield bid $110 million and backed out. Glenn Straub bought the building for $82 million — three and a half cents on the dollar. It reopened in 2018 as Ocean Resort Casino, a working casino with a smoking section, and Kevin DeSanctis’s vision was gone. This is the story of how one building revealed everything that was wrong with Atlantic City’s bet on its own future. Sources: Philadelphia Inquirer — “Revel: Right idea at wrong time and place, say many” (August 2014) CDC Gaming Reports — “A Timeline of Atlantic City’s Revel Casino Hotel” (2014) Spectrum Gaming Group — Atlantic City casino revenue and regional competition analysis (2011) WHYY/NewsWorks — “Here’s what you need to know about Revel” (April 2012) Casino.org — “Revel Buyer Bails Over Energy Costs in Atlantic City” (November 2014) ENR/Engineering News-Record — “Construction Executives Killed in Crash of Private Jet” (August 2008)