- Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment have offered $23.4m to buy the Atlantic Club.
- The offer will be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for approval on Monday December 23.
- For $15m, Caesars will take the hotel with its 800 rooms, but close it down until further notice. The Tropicana will pay $8.4m and take 1,641 slot machines and 48 table games.
- Caesars has no plans to operate the club which will close down on January 13.
On Monday, the bankruptcy court in Atlantic City will be asked to approve a bid for the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment have offered $23.4m between them for the Boardwalk casino.
For $15m, Caesars will take the hotel with its 800 rooms, but close it down until further notice and the Tropicana will pay $8.4m to take 1641 slot machines and 48 table games, according to Wayne Parry of the Associated Press.
Michael Frawley, COO of the Atlantic Club said: “The events of the last few months have evoked an array of emotions, and through it all, the employees of the Atlantic Club have remained consummate professionals … unfortunately our pace was unsustainable in the extremely challenging Atlantic City gaming market.”
It appeared that the sale was being held up by a last minute complaint by Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union. Union President Bob McDevitt said: “While we can’t stop the Atlantic Club from closing, we are going to do everything we can to fight for the workers to get as much as possible in this tragic situation.”
That may be little, because Caesars has said that it has no plans to re-open the Club as a casino and no plans to operate the hotel. The benefit the company will receive from its purchase comes from reduced competition and the removal of a possible threat to its online operations in New Jersey.
Atlantic Club owners Colony Capital reportedly paid over $500m for the business in 2005. They pulled out of a deal to sell to PokerStars in the hope that the soon to be opened New Jersey online market would lead to higher bids.
The Atlantic Club will close on January 13 and almost all of its more than 1600 employees will lose their jobs.
