Atlantic City’s Ocean Casino Resort has greatly reduced its debt and will return to profitability in May, Eric Matejevich, the interim CEO managing the oceanfront property while an ownership transfer takes place recently told the Associated Press.
The property, which opened in 2012 as the Revel casino, has been a habitual money loser since its opening and eventually closed in bankruptcy. It was reopened last year under the ownership of the late Bruce Deifik, the Colorado developer who died in a car crash last month.
The resort had begun to run out of money in September, leading Deifik to relinquish ownership in January, after just six months. It is now being acquired by hedge fund Luxor Capital, which had agreed to take over and invest $70 million into the property.
Of the $70 million, Luxor used $50 million to pay down debt, leaving it with a greatly improved balance sheet, Matejevich told the AP.
“In a lot of ways, we’re going faster than we had imagined we could,” Matejevich said. “We’ve largely eliminated losses at the property and we are making a major effort to reintroduce this place to people.”
The casino won more from customers at slot machines in April than in any previous month, and recorded its second-highest hotel occupancy rate, he said. Official figures have not yet been released by state regulators.
The casino has also launched a new marketing plan emphasizing its casino offerings and is addressing customer complaints about the property. For example, the casino adding new elevators to make it easier to get to the casino floor from the hotel.
The casino is also adding 200 new slot machines, and has bought out the lease for the Royal Jelly burlesque club on its premises from operator Ivan Kane. Ocean will replace it by Memorial Day weekend with what it describes as a “speakeasy” club that will also offer burlesque, as well as tabletop gambling.
“Luxor is committed to operating Ocean and is pleasantly surprised by the speed of operating improvements at the property,” Matejevich told the wire service.
