That included Atlantic City’s only total smoking ban, which alienated many gamblers the lack of a buffet and daily bus trips to and from the casino and the absence of a players’ club. The idea behind Revel was to open a totally different resort, a seaside pleasure palace that just happened to have a casino as one of its features.
When it opened in April 2012, it was so laden with debt that it couldn’t bring in enough revenue to cover it. It ran out of money halfway through construction and had to drop its plans for a second hotel tower while scrambling for the remaining $1 billion or so it needed to finish the project. The casino broke ground just before the Great Recession.
