Former Atlantic City Casino Owner Dies In Car CrashFormer Owner Of Ocean Resort Casino Died From Injuries Sustained In Crash Driving Home From A Baseball Game |
|
Bruce Deifik, the former owner of Ocean Casino Resort, died last weekend from injuries he sustained in a car crash in Denver, according to reports.
Deifik, 64, bought Revel Casino in Atlantic City from Florida investor Glenn Straub for $229 million. Revel closed in 2014 after a series of bankruptcy claims and was reopened by Deifik in 2018 as Ocean Resort Casino.
Revel’s developers sunk $2.4 billion into the property and were unable to turn a profit in the two years it was open.
Ocean Resort Casino faced similar problems to Revel when it came to cash flow. Deifik, a real estate developer from Colorado, was unable to turn a profit and ended selling the majority stake to Luxor, a private investment firm from New York at the start of 2019.
According to an article earlier this year from the Press of Atlantic City, Luxor funneled another $70 million into the property to open a buffet, additional suites and rooms and investments on the casino floor, as well as giving the property some much needed financial flexibility.
The amount was never disclosed, but Deifik still held a minority stake in Ocean Casino Resort after Luxor stepped in.
Deifik was just a few days away from having to travel back east to Atlantic City, where he was set to face a hearing in front of New Jersey gaming regulators. Those regulators were holding the hearing in response to sexual harassment allegations from female employees at the property. It was possible that regulators were going to strip him of his gaming license.
Paul O’Gara, Deifik’s lawyer, told media outlets that Deifik was involved in the crash while traveling home from a Colorado Rockies baseball game.
The Denver police are reporting, while not releasing Deifik’s identity, that the driver of the vehicle “had an apparent medical condition and swerved” across two lanes. The vehicle then “crashed into a light pole and came to a rest on the sidewalk.”
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Bart Blatstein, the owner of Showboat, who is trying to complete a revitalization project of his own. “I knew him as a nice man. He put his heart and wallet in Atlantic City. It’s a sad time.”
The results of Deifik’s autopsy are still pending.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
