Revel Atlantic City Said to be Refusing Slot Refund Promotion to Some Customers
Having emerged from bankruptcy protection only a couple of months ago, Revel Atlantic City has been working hard to remake its image and in turn, its bottom line.
As part of its efforts since it successfully completed a restructuring which saw creditors accepting equity in exchange for debt repayment, Revel has lowered prices property-wide, has reversed a smoking ban that had been in place since its opening in April of 2012, and has rolled out a series of promotions designed to get the “typical” Atlantic City gambler through its doors.
In June slots rebate program was announced
At the end of June, Revel unveiled a slots rebate program which is essentially exactly what it sounds like: Revel promised to refund players for any losses up to $100,000 beginning on the first of July.
This promotion apparently was of especial interest to players known as “advantage players” – that is to say players who are familiar with how to take advantage of particular machines, games, and offers to their best benefit. Rumors currently swirling on gambling forums allege that advantage players have been denied refunds by Revel despite the fact that some have racked up tens of thousands of dollars in losses on the machines.
Furthermore, some players are saying they were not denied refunds, but were outright banned from participating in the promotion from the start. While none of the allegations have been revealed in the mainstream media nor has Revel publicly commented about the accusations, there are some who say that the casino maintains a list of names of advantage players and has blocked them from benefitting from the slot rebate program.
Revel is the newest and one of the most hard-hit properties in Atlantic City
Revel is the newest of the dozen casino properties in Atlantic City, having cost $2.4 billion to construct. Its hotel tower is the second-tallest building in the state of New Jersey and the tallest in Atlantic City. Unfortunately, Revel’s plan to market itself as a more upscale property than the typical Atlantic City did not work out well, and the casino was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a year after opening.
Upon word that it had come out of bankruptcy in May, company officials remarked that they expected the property to begin turning a profit sometime during the summer of 2014. Revel is not alone in its woes; in fact the entire Atlantic City casino industry continues to struggle in the face of competition from neighboring Pennsylvania, which last year snatched the title of the nation’s second-largest gambling market away from New Jersey’s storied seaside gambling city.
Revel only one of two Atlantic City properties without iGaming partnership deal
Atlantic City is now turning its hopes to Internet gaming. First-term Republican Governor and rumored 2016 presidential hopeful Chris Christie signed the state’s online wagering law back in February, making New Jersey the third state in the United States to regulate some type of online gambling behind Nevada and Delaware.
Under the terms of New Jersey’s iGaming law, servers from the real-money betting sites will be required to be located in Atlantic City. Of the twelve land-based casino properties there, only two – Revel and the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel – have not publicly announced partnerships for Internet gaming ventures, however both are said to have agreements lined up.
The Atlantic Club now-infamously terminated a deal with online poker giant PokerStars earlier this year, which would have had the world’s biggest online poker room becoming the owner of one of Atlantic City’s worst casinos. The Atlantic Club pulled the plug on the sale after PokerStars failed to acquire an interim operating license prior to an outside date stipulated in the purchase agreement.
A judge later upheld the termination, allowing the Atlantic Club to keep $11 million that it had received toward a $15 million purchase price.
