On June 28th, the Ocean Casino Resort launched, one of two casinos opening on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. After almost a year of operation, the casino now has a new owner and is looking forward to a successful future. The majority of the first year was a little rough for the venue and the casino is now hoping the 2nd year will be more fruitful.
New Owner
The venue was originally known as the Revel then Ten, having been purchased and renamed the Ocean Resort Casino when it opened last year. The former owner was Bruce Deifik, a developer who unfortunately passed away in a car crash in April. The casino is now owned by Luxor Capital, a group that renamed the venue the Ocean Casino Resort and are now putting the focus on a casino-first model.
According to media reports, the casino is now focused on their gaming customers. They want to provide more competitive offers to players. The venue is already working on promotions, having launched new billboards in Atlantic City for the casino.
The casino first opened in June of last year and was unable to have a full month of revenue reporting until July. That month, the casino surpassed the $15,000,000 mark. August was even better with close to $20,000,000 in earnings. September was down though with the casino earning just under $15,000,000.
From November to April of this year, the revenues tapered off and have remained under the $15,000,000 mark. The venue struggled to make ends meet. However, with the new owners in place, Luxor Capital has already stated they have been working on debt to see the casino get back on its feet.
Online Casino Gaming
The Ocean Casino Resort has offered online casino gaming since launch summer, but the platform has also struggled to gain any ground. When looking at revenue reports of the licensed operators, the brand remains at the bottom.
Luxor Capital plans on placing attention on the online segment in the future, but for now will remain focused on the land-based operations. According to a recent report by PlayNJ, Chief Marketing Officer for the casino, Mike Donovan, has stated that announcements will be made over the summer.
In the firsts ninety days, the venue has been focused on fixing the land-based element first. But they also have the team working on the best way to gain more business via the online sector. According to Donovan, there are micro issues to resolve on the online gaming side.
As far as the land-based gaming sector is concerned, the casino should be able to see nice traffic in the coming months as summer is in full swing. The Atlantic City area is quite busy during the summer months with tourists from all the country coming in to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean as well as the many gaming venues, dining options and entertainment.
The casino will have to work to try and capture some of the summer crowd and hopefully a buzz will be created to see visitors coming to the casino on a more regular basis.
We shall see in the coming months just how the casino performs under the new owner. It was nice to see the venue open last summer and hopefully Luxor Capital will be able to keep momentum going and see the casino do well.