The casino, which is the tallest building in Atlantic City, was supposed to be the centrepiece of New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s effort to bring Las Vegas quality gambling to Atlantic City’s declining gaming business. The Revel casino and resort cost around $2.4bn during the construction process.
However, the auction process is only expected to attract offers in the $100m to $300m range, and any sale at this level would represent a significant loss on the investment of the firm’s ownership group. In the short term, the casino’s owners have secured a loan of around $125m which will be used to keep the venue open until a buyer can be found. Should the casino be forced to close it would be a significant blow to the company’s 3140 employees and the wider Atlantic City gambling community. Revel Entertainment Group, which owns the casino, says the decision to put the casino back into bankruptcy, and subsequently up for auction, had been taken to prevent it closing its doors permanently. For the second time in a little over a year, Atlantic City’s troubled Revel Casino Hotel has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
