Fresh off an emergence from bankruptcy protection, Revel Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City is poised to make notable changes as it looks toward a future that its operators hope will include profitability, something that has eluded the property in the little more than a year since it has been open to the public.
Slots players literally won't be able to lose with new refund policy
Starting on July 1st, Revel will start refunding players if they lose more than $100 on a slot machine in the casino. According to Russell Fine, whose company, The Fine Group, is handling Revel's post-bankruptcy marketing, such an offer is a completely new innovation.
"As far as we know ... a casino has never offered to refund slot losses for a month. We wanted to come up with an offer they couldn’t refuse," Fine said this week.
The promotion will run for twenty weeks, and players who qualify for a slots refund will have the money credited back to their player cards, Fine said.
Other changes already afoot
Aside from the massive slots promotion, Revel has, or is in the process, of making other alterations that they expect will lure new gamblers to the property, the newest in the state of New Jersey.
One such change is in the property's name. Previously known only as Revel, the property will henceforth be known as Revel Casino-Hotel in an attempt to focus more on the availablity of gambling entertainment in a shift away from its previous marketing focus on its resort.
Other changes include lowering prices on rooms and other amenities at the property, in part to attract what Revel officials say is a more "typical" Atlantic City gambler. To that end, the property also plans to allow smoking, something that had previously been banned.
Additionally, a new marketing campaign that Revel is rolling out focuses on the slogan "Gamblers Wanted." Whether or not the effort will pay off of course remains to be seen, however Revel at least deserves credit for being honest, as gambling revenue is what the property sorely needs at this point.
"In this business, you have to fight for the customers every single day. We plan to be fighting for every dollar, every day," said Jeffery Hartmann, who is the interim CEO of Revel.
Hartmann has previously remarked that the property hopes to be turning a profit by the summer of 2014.
Struggling casino in a struggling casino town
Unfortunately for the New Jersey gambling industry, the plight of Revel is hardly unique. In fact, the Atlantic City casino industry has experienced a revenue decline for six consecutive years in the face of increased competition from nearby states such as Maryland and Pennsylvania. As more states up and down the Eastern Seaboard look to expanding casino gaming - both online and off - as a means of injecting a new source of revenue into cash-strapped state and municipal budgets, it is expected that competition for gambling dollars will only become more fierce.
Such a tactic can backfire, however, as casinos compete with each other to lure gamblers to their properties. Many consumer groups and gambling industry interests continue to express concern as casinos proliferate across the nation, often vying with nearby casinos to attract what some maintain is a finite customer base.
Recognizing this potentiality, New Jersey is touting its new Internet gambling law, which was signed by Governor Chris Christie this past Feburary, as being capable of attracting a newer, younger crowd of gamblers who wish to place wagers via their computers and eventually, their mobile devices too. Some analysts are predicting that once the online gambling web sites go live, something that is expected to happen later on this fall, the New Jersey gambling industry will be able to begin digging itself out of the revenue hole it has occupied for years.
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