Gamblers pour into Revel to say they were the first

ATLANTIC CITY - As the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean at 6:35 a.m., Revel management and staff raised their glasses to mark the official soft opening of this city's 12th casino, which many hope will turn the resort's fortunes around.

"I'd like to propose a toast to all those folks who helped us," said Revel chief executive officer Kevin DeSanctis, standing on a stage with Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno in the facility's SkyGarden, with the Atlantic in the background.

The ocean - which planners of the 6.3 million-square-foot casino resort worked hard to integrate into the design of the complex - is visible through Revel's glass facade from virtually every angle of the building.

Guadagno, who is serving as governor while Chris Christie is on a trip to Israel, said she opted to toast the day with a blueberry slurpee, instead of the usual champagne, in honor of Hammonton, N.J., the nation's blueberry capital.

She praised DeSanctis' perseverance in seeing the project completed after more than five years, but reminded the hundreds of recently hired Revel employees gathered around her that it was Christie, her boss, who helped make sure it got done.

In February 2011, Christie announced $261 million in state tax credits to put toward Revel's completion. That money was part of the final $1.2 billion in financing that DeSanctis needed to resume construction after a two-year delay.

"Gov. Christie was all in two years ago, when this was just a shell," Guadagno said. "This is the story of Atlantic City and New Jersey as a whole. The sun is starting to rise."

The toast marked the start of an eight-week preview of the property that continues through May 24, a day before Revel's grand opening on Memorial Day weekend. The holiday weekend will include a performance by Beyonce to open Revel's 5,050-seat Ovation Hall, one of two theaters. The other venue, The Social, seats 700.

"We're treating the opening of Revel as a Broadway play with an eight-week preview," said DeSanctis of the soft opening, which is intended to work out all the kinks.

Revel's 130,000-square-foot gaming floor opened at 7 a.m., about 15 minutes after Guadagno's speech, with about 200 waiting to get in.

At the head of the line was Jerry Colonna, 28, of Mount Laurel, who works for a waste management company. He arrived at 5 a.m. with friends Mike Demcovitz, 28, and Keith Groff, 33, both of Atlantic City, and Ryan Lichtner, 24, of Center City.

They entered the gaming floor and made a beeline to the table games. Colonna got behind a $10 minimum Roulette table and removed a wad of bills from his wallet.

"I didn't want to be second," said Colonna, of being Revel's first gaming customer.

"This place will turn Atlantic City around," he said as he scoped out the floor. "Look at it - it's beautiful. It's a wow. On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 12."

For Demcovitz, who lives less than four blocks from Revel, the casino has special significance.

"Me and my friend Keith have watched this place being built the last four years," he said. "We've been waiting for [it] to open for so long. Now, that we're here . . . this is something else. I can't even put it into words how nice it is."

Revel is the first newly constructed casino to open here since the Borgata debuted in July 2003. At 47 stories, it is New Jersey's second-tallest building. It is the city's first non-union gambling hall and the first entirely, non-smoking one since gambling was legalized here in 1976. The other 11 casinos in town are 25 percent smoke-free, according to the state Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Located on the northern end of the Boardwalk, next to Showboat, Revel spans 20 acres of beachfront and is modeled after the Borgata as a lavish, Las Vegas-style mega-casino.

Most of Revel's 1,898 rooms and suites - all with ocean views - will be phased in over eight weeks. Three of the 14 restaurants are open - Lugo, Distrito Cantina and Mussel Bar. The remaining restaurants will open over the next several weeks.

Also opened today was the 31,000-square foot spa and one of 10 pools. The 55,000-square-foot retail galleria, featuring retail "living rooms," will open next month.

One of Revel's two nightclubs, the Royal Jelly Burlesque, will open on Thursday. The other nightclub and a "dayclub" will open in June.

Revel has been heralded by many as the spark that this town desperately needs. It enters the Atlantic City market at a tumultuous time as gaming revenues here have tumbled in 42 of the last 43 months. Atlantic City's casinos have lost $1.6 billion since 2006 to "convenience" casinos in Pennsylvania and New York. March casino revenues come out next week.

That didn't seem to faze Roseann Wilkins, 64, of Elmira, N.Y., who arrived with Larry Teeter, 55, also from upstate New York, to get a first look.

Wilkins, who said she was used to every public place in New York, including casinos, being smoke-free, said she felt at home at Atlantic City's only fully smoke-free casino.

"I love it," said Wilkins, as she and Teeter sat side-by-side playing penny slots. Two invitation-only test days of the gaming floor went smoothly last week, according to casino executives.

CEO DeSanctis said he wants Revel to go after group and leisure customers, the traditional overnight gaming customers, and the day visitor with revenue coming from the gaming floor, as well as from entertainment, food and beverage and 160,000-square-feet of meeting space.

"We will attract significant new components of business that are new to Atlantic City," he said. "As far as the guest experience and guest expectation, I think it will really take a year before we find out how this facility operates."

But Monday's preview made it clear just how much Revel embraces the ocean and its natural surrounding. The building, which has multiple levels, literally curves like waves and its silvery-blue glass facade reflects the sky and ocean.

"We've done a lot of things to try to achieve that, from where we placed our pools and decks, to where we introduced light into the building," said DeSanctis. "There are some meeting rooms, too, where you can look over the beach and see great vistas, and restaurants where if you want to see the ocean, you could do that.

"We have taken advantage of a piece of Atlantic City that is really quite nice, so I think we have achieved somewhat that balance."

At midnight Sunday, the distinctive globe atop Revel Tower glowed blue. Management has said the ball is mostly a decorative piece, but it also serves as a guiding compass to the new casino.

Carmen Flores, 60, who arrived by bus from Brooklyn on Sunday to be among the first to gamble at Revel, said she noticed the ball when her bus pulled into town.

"You can't miss it," she said.