'I usually play at Harrah's, but this is my place now.' 'It's got that wow factor,' she said between a string of winning hands of electronic blackjack. That was certainly the verdict from Margy Woolsey, an Atlantic City resident who was among 5,000 invitation-only guests last week for the first of three trial-run gambling nights at Revel, to see how equipment, systems and personnel would work under real-world pressures.

'If we can do that, then I'm not worried. 'The real issue is: Can you maintain the interest and the excitement?' DeSanctis said. Six years and $2.4 billion after the two men sat atop that dirt pile, it becomes Atlantic City's 12th casino - one that is being counted on to help revive the sagging fortunes of the nation's second-largest gambling market. A sunrise champagne toast will officially open the facility.

Monday morning, when the sun comes up, Revel will have arrived. So they set out to build something that was not just a casino but a true destination resort, a glittering glass-encased vacation and meeting mecca that just happened to offer casino gambling.

Revel casino news