But that strategy - as well as the only overall smoking ban in Atlantic City - turned off customers, and Revel filed for bankruptcy in 2013, a little over a year after opening. Its original owners envisioned it as a luxury resort that just happened to have a casino, and eschewed many staples of casino culture, including a buffet and bus trips for day-trippers. Revel has ranked near the bottom of Atlantic City's casinos in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers since the day it opened.

Since 2006, when the first Pennsylvania casino opened, Atlantic City's casino revenue has fallen from $5.2 billion to $2.86 billion last year. Atlantic City has since slipped to third place behind Nevada and Pennsylvania, whose casinos touched off the New Jersey resort town's revenue and employment plunge in 2007. Revel opened in April 2012 as the first new casino in Atlantic City since the Borgata opened nine years earlier, and carried great hopes for many that it would be the catalyst to jolt what had been the nation's second-largest gambling market back to life. But after Revel's board met on Monday, the decision was made to shutter the iconic glass-covered casino at the north end of the Boardwalk. The casino was due to be sold at a bankruptcy court auction last week, but that was postponed until Thursday to allow casino officials to study bids that were received. 'We will continue to endeavor toward a placement with such an owner, but there can be no assurance as to the outcome of the pending bankruptcy process.'' 'We hope that Revel can be a successful and vital component of Atlantic City under a proper ownership and reorganized expense structure,'' the company said. But it acknowledged that if that happened, it would be after the facility had already shut down. Revel said it still hopes to find a buyer through the bankruptcy process. The company said it cannot avoid 'an orderly wind-down of the business at this time.'' It also said challenges arose in attempts to sell Revel. The company said its situation was compounded by a 'considerable non-controllable expense structure' that financially burdened the property. 'Atlantic City will flourish in the coming years, and I really, truly believe that.'

'In a transition period of making it a resort destination, you know I think we still have to focus on that and go forward in making that happen,' Mazzeo said.

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