What happens next with Revel?

The lawyers, lenders, and restructuring experts in charge of Revel Casino Hotel's bankruptcy got their wish Thursday when a bankruptcy judge in Camden allowed them to end their deal with Florida developer Glenn Straub.

Now they must try for the third time in bankruptcy to find a buyer for a $2.4 billion property that, according to some casino industry experts, would be hard to give away.

What happens in the unlikely scenario that they can't find a buyer, no matter how low the price?

It all depends on lender Wells Fargo Bank.

The bank, among the largest in the nation, has propped up Revel with $70 million in loans since the bankruptcy filing in June. Including loans from before the bankruptcy, Revel owes Wells Fargo more than $135 million.

As long as Wells Fargo is willing to keep paying the bills, as it did this month when it paid Revel's quarterly tax bill, the bankruptcy case can continue.

If Wells Fargo decides not to put more money into Revel, it could sell its claim, likely at a steep discount, to an investor that would take its place.

"That could be Wells Fargo's exit strategy - could be, I'm not saying it is," said Andrew Flame, a partner in Drinker Biddle & Reath L.L.P.'s corporate restructuring practice group in Philadelphia. Flame is not involved in the case.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment.

Even if Wells Fargo took that route to shed its position, the beleaguered casino would still be in bankruptcy. Its nightclub and restaurant tenants, who have protected their rights to stay in the property under a new owner, could continue making a sale difficult, and Revel's utility supplier would still have significant leverage.

Shaun Martin, Revel's chief restructuring officer, suggested in court testimony Tuesday that the time frame for a sale is short, perhaps four months.

Revel is now in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, where the company and lenders have more control over the process than under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Martin implied that if a sale didn't happen shortly, it would fall to a court-appointed trustee to attempt a sale under Chapter 7.

Such a sale is not a slam dunk. If Wells Fargo were still around, it would either have to pay the costs of a Chapter 7 sale or allow another lender to step in front of it in the line of creditors.

The trustee could also determine that it was not worth trying to sell Revel because there wouldn't be enough benefit to creditors. If secured creditors didn't want the building, the property could be abandoned, eventually going to Atlantic City for unpaid property taxes.

Experts find that hard to imagine, especially because it's a casino.

"I still believe at the end of the day," said Pepper Hamilton lawyer Francis J. Lawall, "somebody will come in and buy it, particularly somebody who's got stars in their eyes and says, 'I can make this work.' "