This time, the owner who will take care of the casino is Luxor Capital Group, which received approval for an interim license. They will have an opportunity to run the casino until the regulators of New Jersey decide whether the company should obtain a permanent license.
Luxor bought the property (formerly known as Ocean Walk) in January. The casino has been doing pretty bad for five months before that, losing a total of $22.7 million.
Economic Difficulties
The casino has been dubbed a “loser” among the Atlantic City casinos, as it has lost a fortune in the last couple of years.
It opened back in 2012 and, since then, it has undergone bankruptcy twice in two consecutive years. The casino was a subject of a bankruptcy auction back in 2015, and it remained closed until January last year. After that, the casino was renovated but never managed to recover from the losses.
The people who are a part of Luxor believe that they can improve things in the casino and turn them around for the better. Both the Casino Control Commission (CCC) and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement have agreed to allow Luxor to run the casino for a while. They expect to turn this $2.4 billion resort into a facility that would start making a profit.
When Can Luxor Expect a Permanent License?
Luxor is a New York-based hedge fund, and it will have a chance to revamp the operations at the casino. During that time, they will be waiting for the regulators to sort things out and decide whether Luxor should be given a permanent license.
One of the main things that currently stops Luxor them from receiving the permanent license is that CCC wants to make sure that Luxor can financially help the casino so that it can regain life once again.
The thing is, all the previous owners were able to keep the casino resort open for just a couple of months before it was pushed back into the financial abyss once again.
What’s In Store For The Ocean Casino?
The hedge fund has already spent more than $70 million to keep the resort alive. The biggest chunk of that money, some $50 million, was a debt that the casino owned to J.P. Morgan.
Since the debt was paid, the casino started seeing the light once again.
In order to get the casino back to its feet, Luxor appointed Gary Van Hettinga as one of the experts who will oversee all the operations. Although he is not a permanent CEO, he will be the most important person for the time being.
