Atlantic City's Revel Pulls In Low Revenue During First Month Open
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City's newest casino won about $13 million from gamblers in its first month of operation, ranking it near the bottom of the city's gambling halls.
Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis told The Associated Press the $2.4 billion resort began a preview period aimed more at testing out systems than generating revenue.
"The first month was, well, it was nice to get it behind us," he said. "When you open anything this size there's an awful lot of work to do and a lot of things to fix. We're still not at a point where we're totally comfortable with everything, particularly the technology."
Problems with in-room TVs held down the number of rooms Revel was able to rent, and a component of its slot system that lets it market to individual players won't be online until May 21.
"There's two things people do when they get to their room: They open the door and they put the TV on," he said. "We're not going to turn anybody away, but I didn't want to push occupancy 'till we get this totally resolved. The worst is behind us now."
Those two factors held down revenue during April. DeSanctis said 1,100 to 1,400 hotel rooms will be available to rent as of Memorial Day weekend, when Beyonce plays four concerts there.
About 464,000 people visited Revel since it opened on April 2. That, at times, created problems for the hotel's guests, as large crowds of sightseers swarmed the lobby and lower areas.
That led Revel to institute free daily tours of the resort between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. — the only facility in Atlantic City to do so.
He said he expects Revel's revenues to ramp up during June, July and August.
Revel has 11 restaurants open now, and a 12th should be open by Memorial Day.
The resort is still buying furniture for guest rooms. Depending on how much arrives, Revel could have 1,400 rooms available to rent by Memorial Day weekend. When fully open, it will have just under 1,900 rooms.
It had 4.5 million hits to its website in its first month, with 725,000 unique visitors.
Over the next 45 days, Revel will host at least 26 meetings or conferences, an important part of its non-gambling business model.
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