It is now common knowledge that the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City is currently in the process of changing ownership, with Luxor Capital being the new owner having taken over from Bruce Deifik.
In an attempt to stem the huge losses that casino has been running up over the last several months, a new management team has been put together, comprising of Eric Matejevich as the new interim chief executive officer and Terry Glebocki as the new chief financial officer.
To comply with gaming laws until such a time that the casino does change hands a trust has been set up whilst the new owners obtain their gambling license.
The scale of the losses run up since the summer are huge, with the casino losing some $3.2 million, $4.1 million, $5.5 million and $5.8 million in the four months from and including September to December 2018.
Luxor Capital are planning on investing some $70 million in the casino resort once they obtain their license and take over the property, and that money will be going on upgrading and adding additional hotel rooms and suites, putting together an all-year round entertainment programme and improving the gaming floor and adding new games.
One aspect of the running of the casino under its previous owners which would have been of major concern to local gaming regulators was that the casino was required to have at least $36 million in cash on hand at any one time, which hasn’t been met since November, when it was reported that only $20 million was available.
Whilst the change of ownership and the planned investment may give the property a long term future, Luxor Capital does face something of an uphill task turning the venue around and making it financially viable, which is something none of the previous owners has been able to do.
