Could Atlantic City Revel be Saved? Six Buyers Interested

With Atlantic City casinos seemingly closing left and right this year, prospects were looking grim for the Revel, which needs to find a buyer in bankruptcy court to stay open. However, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian believes that there is definitely some hope with six buyers interested in the casino.

“No, I’m not happy that three casinos are closing,” Guardian said at a press conference. “But I know that behind closed doors there are a half-dozen companies looking at the opportunity to purchase Revel.”

The Revel opened to a lot of hype in April of 2012. With a $2.4 billion price tag and lots of amenities, Revel was supposed to be a huge draw for the struggling city. However, this casino has faced nothing but problems en route to declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice. Assuming none of the half-dozen buyers that Guardian mentioned bite, Revel owners expect to close some time next month.

During the press conference, Guardian also addressed other failing/closed casinos such as the Showboat and Atlantic Club. The latter was purchased by a Florida firm called TJM Properties that had plans to use it as a non-gaming hotel resort. However, Guardian said that he’s been in talks with TJM about selling the Atlantic Club to another buyer. At this time, though, it’s unclear if a new buyer would plan on operating it as a casino.

Guardian also said that the Showboat, which is expected to close before September, has some interested parties. When asked about Trump Plaza, which will likely shut down on September 16th, the mayor stated that he’s unaware of any potential buyers.

Besides casino closings, one more hot gaming topic involves whether or not New Jersey will allow casino resorts to open in other parts of the state. Some politicians have called for a casino to open in the northern New Jersey Meadowlands to compete against the growing number of New York casinos.

Initially, State Senate President Steve Sweeney was against the idea because there’s still almost two years left on Governor Chris Christie’s Atlantic City revival timeline. But according to NJ.com, Sweeney says that he’ll let New Jersey voters decide through a referendum next year whether or not to allow casino gaming outside of Atlantic City. On the other hand, though, Sweeney will not any bill that doesn’t also help Atlantic City.