Disappointing Poker Results See Revel Shut Poker Room
July 31, 2013 1:58 pmAtlantic City’s $2.4 billion casino resort ‘Revel’ may boast 130,000 sq ft of gaming space offering over 2,500 slot machines and 120 table games, but one game the venue will not be offering come August 15th is poker.
As a Revel statement explained Tuesday: “After careful consideration and in an effort to further improve the overall operating performance of Revel Casino-Hotel, management has made the decision to close our poker room operations effective August 2013.”
Since opening in April, 2012, Revel had been promoting its own dedicated 37 tabled poker room, described by the casino as “An elevated poker experience with the features you want, close to the casino floor.” Originally, Revel had high hopes of challenging the Borgata’s popular poker offering, and opened its poker room close to the Revel’s prime concert venue called Ovation Hall, hoping to attract gamblers as they exited the arena..
However, after disappointing poker revenue results culminating in Revel finishing near the bottom of Atlantic City’s nine casinos offering the game, the decision was made to pull the plug on poker in an attempt to improve the casino’s overall operating performance. Revel’s concerns were highlighted by the fact that despite housing Atlantic City’s fourth biggest poker room, the casino finished second to last in June with $90,888 in revenue compared to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which generated $1.8 million during the month.
Nevertheless, Revel hasn’t ruled out offering poker once more in the future, especially after online gambling is introduced to New Jersey starting November 26th. As a statement released by the casino which has still to find an online gambling partner, explained:
“Offering poker as an amenity on the property will be considered in the future as a component of an overall strategy related to our online opportunities. We have a very talented team of professionals who work in poker operations and we are actively working to place as many as we can in other areas.”