Ocean Resort Casino to open the same day as Hard Rock AC

Atlantic City will welcome not one but two new casinos on the same day in June.

On Monday, Colorado developer Bruce Deifik’s AC Ocean Walk announced that it plans to open the Ocean Resort Casino – the formerly bankrupt Revel – on June 28. Defik’s company bought the shuttered $2.4b Revel in January for a mere $200m and has since committed $175m to ridding the property of its heady aroma of mothballs and defeat.

Ocean Resort Casino CEO Frank Leone said June 28 represented “the culmination of all our planning” and the company “cannot wait to reveal what we have been working on” for the property’s prospective guests. Leone added that June 28 would be “a special day for Atlantic City as it turns the page on a new chapter of revitalization.”

Special, perhaps, but it’s also something of a dick move, given that Hard Rock International announced last month that it was opening its Hard Rock Atlantic City – the former Trump Taj Mahal – on June 28. As such, Deifik’s firm could be said to be unnecessarily hogging some of HRI’s spotlight.