I went to A C on Sunday to go to the closings of both the Showboat and Revel Casinos. When I got to A C I thought I had plenty of time to get to the Showboat closing at 5:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. I even checked into my room and hung out for a little while thinking I had plenty of time to get over to the Showboat before it closed. Unfortunately things did NOT work out as planned !!!! I arrived at Showboat at 3:10 pm and as I drove up to the parking garage and valet parking entrance I was stopped by a security guard. He told me that the casino was closing at 4:00 pm and that they were NOT letting anybody in the casino after 3:00 pm. Oops - I had missed getting into the casino for the closing by 10 minutes. I left the parking area and drove to Wildwood to see my Brother and his family who were on vacation there. We had a great time walking on the boardwalk and having dinner, etc. - so my day was NOT a total waste.

So much for Showboat - now on to Revel. I double and tripled checked the closing time for Revel which was scheduled for 5:00 am on Tuesday morning. I got the front desk at the motel where I was staying to give me a wake up call at 2:00 am so I would have plenty of time to get to the casino which was only a 10 minute drive away. I arrived at Revel at 2:45 am and parked my car on level 6 which had direct access to the floor where the casino was located. As I entered the casino they were shutting down a pit that had 3 Roulette tables. I went over to the Pit Boss and asked if there was an y way I could "buy" some roulette chips for souvenirs. He said he might have sold me some Roulette chips but the final paperwork and chip count had been completed. Damn - missed out again by a few minutes !!! I then went over to security and asked exactly when the casino gaming floor would be closed. They said 5:00 am as scheduled.
I then went over to the only pit that was still open with 1 roulette table and 3 blackjack tables. I asked the Pit Boss there if I could "buy" some Roulette chips and he said definitely NO - against regulations, etc, etc. There were only about 25 - 30 people hanging around the nearby bar and the tables. The Roulette table was full. I then walked around the casino and got some TITOs out of the slot machines as souvenirs. At about 4:15 am I was able to buy in at the Roulette table and I subsequently harvested some Roulette chips and actually played for about a half hour. At 4:45 am I left the table and wandered around the casino. I went all over the place - bathroom, down the halls etc and nobody stopped me. At about 4:55an I went back near the first pit that had closed when I first got to the casino. There was a girl there taking papers out of a cabinet in the pit. I went over to her and asked if there was an thing I could have as a souvenir. She handed me a rating card and then opened another drawer and found a couple of "Roulette Chip Inventory Sheets". I was totally thrilled to get these and that really made my day !!! It was almost 5:00 am and I put the 3 TITOs I had back in a machine to get them re-printed with a time close to closing. As I was feeding the TITOs into the machine an announcement came over the P A system that the casino would NOT close until 6:00 am. No wonder the place went out of business - they couldn't even get the closing time right. I decided that I had had enough of Revel and I left the casino around 5:05 am.
In summary Revel in "Death" (closing) was the same as it was in "Life" (operation) - nobody was there and they could get anything right. Revel - rest in peace !! It was doomed from the beginning and I never really liked the joint and I guess I was not alone in my opinion !!

Take care,
Jerry "The Closer" Birl