The Ocean Resort in Atlantic City should open as scheduled on June 28 after receiving a casino license from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission just one week before the opening date.
The casino—formerly the Revel casino—was granted a special hearing before the commission last week which ultimately ended with the commission voting to license the facility, but also including 26 conditions recommended by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. The conditions mostly revolve around financial matters.
One of the conditions is that Ocean Resort maintain at least $36 million of liquidity at all times, a condition to which the casino agreed, according to the Associated Press.
Casino officials said the casino plans to gain about 10.5 percent of the Atlantic City market, increasing to 12 percent by 2021, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
The hearing was highlighted by testimony from Bruce Deifik, the head of the Colorado-based group that bought the property from Florida investor Glenn Straub for $200 million in January.
Deifik told the commission he had first made a refundable $10 million investment in the property without ever having visited Atlantic City. His testimony was described by several news outlets as emotional as he described the long fight to see the former casino—which cost $2.4 billion to build—reopen.
“It’s been much harder,” the Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Deifik as saying when asked how his family was feeling about the venture. “It’s taken a lot to get here.”
Deifik’s group bought the property for $200 million and has invested $35 million in renovations, he said. Deifik has personally put up $70 million of his own equity, he said adding that he has spent the last 13 months living in the city.
During the hearing, Deifik outlined some of the challenges the casino has faced, including the difficulty of dealing with Straub, who dominated headlines in the resort the entire time he owned the property. Even as Deifik’s group was already paying $2 million a month to maintain the property and was about to close, Straub was denying to reporters that he had even met Deifik, he said.
“I finally had to say to him, ‘Glenn, you’re telling everyone there’s no buyer. I’m that guy, and we’re closing tomorrow,” he said.
Straub maintains an interest in the property in the form of a three-year share of parking revenue, Deifik testified. “It’s not a favorite subject of mine,” he said according to the Inquirer.
Deifik said the casino has been redesigned to address complaints from customers of the former Revel including better Boardwalk access, a new open casino layout and the hiring of ambassadors who will show people around.
Other changes include removing a total ban on smoking and also allowing single-night stays, which weren’t allowed at Revel. The casino will also include a sportsbook area with huge screens in the middle of the casino floor. Deifik said the casino invested in the sportsbook even before New Jersey won a Supreme Court challenged that allowed it to begin sports betting this month.
Most importantly, officials said the Ocean Resort will cater to all level of players and not focus solely on high rollers as was often the case when the property was the Revel.
“If you’re someone betting $5 or $10, how often does someone come up to you, shake your hand, ask how your day is coming and ask if there’s anything you need?” asked Frank Leone, Ocean Resort’s CEO who also testified at the hearing. “We are going to ensure that customers who don’t get personal attention at other properties get personal attention here.”
Deifik said he expects the casino to prosper as it does not carry the massive debt that helped sink the Revel and that the property would “surprise the world.” Ocean Resort will also begin online gambling on July 1, officials said.
According to numbers submitted to the state, the group projects the casino will generate $384.6 million in net revenue and a gross operating profit of $81.1 million in 2019. Officials predict the casino will take in $292 million in overall gambling revenue in its first year, and $127 million in nongaming revenue, according to the Press.
The casino has also announced that it will open 14 restaurants on the property. Deifik told the commission he spent the last year negotiating deals to buy out the restaurants and nightclubs that had leases at the former Revel and set up more favorable deals with all but one, he said. Several of those restaurants and clubs had been in a legal battle with Straub to stay at the property under his eventually unrealized plans for re-opening.
Though Revel’s restaurants were seen as much more successful than the casino itself, their profit did not help Revel’s revenue, Deifik said.
June 28 will be a busy day in Atlantic City as the Hard Rock Atlantic City is scheduled to open on the same day as Ocean Resort. However, the Hard Rock—which is separated from Ocean Resort on the city’s Boardwalk by the now non-casino Showboat Hotel—is planning major events and entertainment to mark the re-opening of the former Trump Taj Mahal.
The two casinos have restored about 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs lost in the city since five casinos closed starting in 2014.
The Hard Rock underwent a much more noticeable transformation than Ocean Resort as renovations of the property removed all signs of the property’s former life as the Indian-themed Trump Taj Mahal.
The casino has now announced it will offer live music at the property for 365 straight days starting with its opening. Carrie Underwood is scheduled to perform at the casino’s main stage June 28, but the ambitious schedule includes numerous free concerts at the property’s other venues. That includes a Sunday Jazz Brunch and Monday Night Blues at the property’s Hard Rock Cafe each week.
