Ocean Casino Resort CEO Terry Glebocki Resigns, Announcement Shocks Atlantic City

Posted on: October 11, 2021, 11:47h. 

Last updated on: October 11, 2021, 01:36h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Ocean Casino Resort CEO Terry Glebocki has left the boardwalk building. The Atlantic City gaming property announced this morning that Glebocki has resigned, and her departure is effective immediately.

Terry Glebocki Ocean Casino Atlantic City
Terry Glebocki is no longer the chief executive of Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. The gaming industry veteran announced her surprise resignation earlier today, October 11. (Image: LinkedIn/Casino.org)

Ocean Casino unveiled the news to gaming media outlets with a brief statement.

We wish to inform you that Terry Glebocki has resigned from her position from Ocean Casino Resort. We thank Terry for her service as chief executive officer since 2019 and wish her well in her future endeavors,” the release stated.

Glebocki took the Ocean Casino helms in December of 2019. Under her leadership, the casino was able to turn financially sound. Glebocki has been credited for saving the boardwalk casino, as it was nearing financial ruin when she arrived.

“Glebocki has three decades of financial management experience, which navigated Ocean’s course to financial stability,” the casino continued. “Terry joined Ocean on the brink of bankruptcy, and is leaving the property as a leading casino resort in Atlantic City.”

Future Unknown

Ocean Casino did not specify a reason for Glebocki’s departure. It’s also unclear whether Glebocki will remain as the president of the Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ), a post she was appointed to only in May.

Prior to joining Ocean Casino, Glebocki served as finance chief of the very same casino resort when the property was known as Revel. Her time as CFO developing and opening the new resort ran about seven years, until the boardwalk property went bankrupt and shuttered in September of 2014.

Her Atlantic City resume additionally includes stints at Tropicana Entertainment and Trump Entertainment Resorts. Both companies have since been dissolved.

Ocean’s High Tide

Glebocki’s time at Ocean Casino saw the property emerge from the shallows of Atlantic City’s gaming industry. Prior to her arrival, Ocean reported a gross operating loss of $2.5 million through the first three quarters of 2019.

Luxor Capital, a New York-based hedge fund, acquired the struggling casino resort from developer Bruce Deifik in early 2019. Deifik died just a month later in a single-vehicle car accident that was caused by a medical emergency.

Luxor brought in Glebocki, a person who knew what did and didn’t work for the towering blue structure in Atlantic City, to reverse Ocean’s fortunes. It paid off, as Ocean emerged the following year as the most profitable casino in town during the pandemic-stricken 2020. Ocean reported an operating profit of nearly $21.9 million in 2020, besting the other eight casinos.

In the first two quarters of 2021 — the most recently published quarterly report from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement — Ocean turned a profit just shy of $17 million.

AC Female Tidal Wave

Glebocki’s arrival at Ocean as CEO helped usher in female leadership to Atlantic City’s casinos. Prior to her appointment, all nine casinos were headed by men.

Just five months after Ocean named Glebocki as CEO, MGM Resorts appointed Melanie Johnson to head its Borgata property in Atlantic City. And in September of 2020, Caesars Entertainment announced Jacqueline Grace as the new general manager of the Tropicana.