Anyone desperate to find clues to the "great American recovery" is strongly urged to stay away from Atlantic City, where shortly after the Revel hotel and casino filed for its second bankruptcy in 16 months, the struggling property announced it would shutter its doors for one final time in September, when not a single qualified buyer emerged during the bankruptcy auction. The good news: there will not be a Chapter 33 for the doomed from the beginning property. The bad news: the DOL will have to find a major seasonal adjustment to absorb the 3,100 jobs that were just lost. It also means that Atlantic City is set to close the year with 25% fewer casinos than it started with, following the shuttering of three other properties including the Showboat and Trump Plaza.
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From AP [6]:
Atlantic City's Revel Casino Hotel will shut down next month after failing to find a buyer in bankruptcy court, company officials announced Tuesday
The company said it will close its doors on Sept. 10. The move comes two years after the $2.4 billion casino opened. It has never turned a profit. The closure will mean the loss of more than 3,100 jobs.
The casino was due to be sold at a bankruptcy court auction last week, but that was postponed until Thursday to allow casino officials to study bids that were received. But after Revel's board met on Monday, the decision was made to shutter the iconic glass-covered casino at the north end of the Boardwalk.
The devastation to New Jersey in one sentence: "Since 2006, when the first Pennsylvania casino opened, Atlantic City's casino revenue has fallen from $5.2 billion to $2.86 billion last year."
As for the now defunct Revel, it was all about being at the wrong time, and the wrong place:
Revel has ranked near the bottom of Atlantic City's casinos in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers since the day it opened. Its original owners envisioned it as a luxury resort that just happened to have a casino, and eschewed many staples of casino culture, including a buffet and bus trips for day-trippers. But that strategy — as well as the only overall smoking ban in Atlantic City — turned off customers, and Revel filed for bankruptcy in 2013, a little over a year after opening.
But despite some improvement, Revel's finances never recovered enough, and it filed for bankruptcy a second time in June, warning that it would close if a suitable buyer could not be found.
Revel's most recent Chapter 11 filing listed assets of $486.9 million and liabilities of $476.1 million
Finally, if anyone wants to visit Atlantic City, better do it sooner than later before the city becomes a ghost town: Revel will be the second of four Atlantic City casinos to shut down this year as the Atlantic City gambling market continues to crumble. The city started this year with 12 casinos. The Showboat will close on Aug. 31, and Trump Plaza is closing Sept. 16.
Shortly thereafter all other casinos will follow suit for one simple reason: they all rely on disposable consumer income, which contrary to the endless propaganda, there is none.
