Why has $2.4Billion-Mega-Revel-Casino done so poorly revenue-wise?

		 

June             May  

Gross Revenue    Gross Revenue 	 

 

$53,300,000 	$50,000,000 	The Best: Borgata 

$14,900,000 	$13,900,000 	The Ugly: Revel 

$9,000,000 	$9,500,000 	The Worst: Trump Plaza 

 

In May Revel was weak because of the soft open they had mostly low limit and all the restaurants were not yet open.

As to June, the numbers indicate some real trouble. They opened with an arrogant attitude towards comps...that making their comps 1:1 and good to convert to freeplay would be good enough...it wasn't. They've since started very aggressive :-) marketing to build their business but in the end I think people are just not going to go to AC for a vacation and pay full price for their hotel room at Revel. Aside from gambling, AC is just not a true destination city anymore. Maybe with effort in a few years AC can begin to evolve into a destination but it's gonna require a lot of hard work and smart marketing.

Regarding their numbers, a lot of high rollers went there and were not particularly pleased with how they were treated (at least table game players). They need a complete casino within a casino that caters to the higher end players (and I don't mean just $100 or $200 and up minimum...but also $50 min and up. The way the casino is set up now is essentially a giant open mess. People don't like to be out in the open like that. Borgata is an example of a well designed casino...Revel is the opposite. There is no intimacy.

that I think Revel underestimated the current AC climate. I think they thought they could just build this new and 'glitsy' place and many of the 20/30 something north jersey/new york crowd that calls Borgata home would come running. It is my understanding that they also initially refused to do any kind of marketing to draw some of the dwindling AC patrons away from their current 'homes'. I suspect that will change going forward.

The casino turned away an amazing number of semi-whales. There was a

guy who blew $21,000 at craps and was refused a limo to N Y C

(90 miles away), and that was after they refused to comp him to dinner,

saying that the restaurants are unaffiliated with the casino.

I went in the other day and found that many of the dealers / pit critters

were actively trying hard to be friendly and inviting to low stakes players.

When a new casino opens they should be loose with everything...great paytables, great rules, loose slots, easy comps, great mail, everything. They can always tighten up once their market position as the "fun and loose" place to play is well established.

Once you get the rep for being "tight and suspicious" it is almost impossible to change no matter how much you subsequently may loosen up.

as their revenue loss would indicate. I think there is something else going on here that the no-smoking policy cannot be the only cause. Most other casinos that have a no-smoking policy have smoking terraces, lounges, or other ways for smokers to take care of their addiction. Revel does not allow smoking anywhere on their property inside or outside. If you need to smoke you have to either walk to Pacific Avenue or the Boardwalk.