Ocean Casino Resort finally scored a profit after tumultuous months of financial troubles, property officials say
Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City will finally report a profit after months of losses following its opening in June 2018. The property is in the process of being handed to a new owner – New York hedge fund Luxor Capital Group. The firm has promised to plough significant amounts of money to keep Ocean afloat.
The Boardwalk hotel and casino resort originally opened doors in 2012 as Revel, but only existed for two and a half years under that name before its closure in 2014. Heavy financial issues and market saturation resulted in five Atlantic City casinos closing doors between 2014 and 2015, with Revel being one of them.
Late Colorado businessman Bruce Deifik reopened the property last June after paying $200 million to its former owner, Glenn Straub, and investing another $200 million into readying it for relaunch.
Despite Mr. Deifik’s ambitious plans to turn the former Revel into a profitable property by luring mass market customers, the resort began bleeding money shortly after its opening. According to data from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the hotel and casino complex lost more than $20 million between September 2018 and January of this year.
The continued losses forced Mr. Deifik, who died in a car crash last month, to seek buyers for the struggling property. As mentioned above, New York financial firm Luxor Capital Group is in the process of acquiring the property. Ocean’s new owner awaits a permanent license from New Jersey gambling regulators.
Turning Up a Profit
Ocean’s interim CEO Eric Matejevich told the Associated Press that the resort will finally post a profit after financially tumultuous several months.
Luxor has already pumped $70 million into the property, of which $50 million was used to pay down debt. Mr. Matejevich went on to say that the move has improved Ocean’s balance sheet significantly.
The executive also noted that reducing debt would enable the casino resort to invest in new and upgraded facilities.
The property opened doors last summer as Ocean Resort Casino, but was recently renamed as Ocean Casino Resort under the new ownership. The name change denotes the resort’s intensified focus on casino gambling as its flagship offering. Ocean is adding 200 slot machines to boost its gaming offering as part of its new strategy.
The property will also add 500 hotel rooms to the 1,400 ones already available. Ocean still does not have a buffet, and Mr. Matejevich said that it will not have one by this summer. A food court will operate as an interim solution.
Information about Ocean’s financial performance for the month of April will be released later this month with the Division of Gaming Enforcement’s monthly market report. However, property officials said that April was the property’s first profitable month in a while.
