Terry Glebocki, who as chief executive officer of Ocean Casino Resort led a reversal of fortune for the once-struggling property, has resigned effective Monday.
“We thank Terry for her service as Chief Executive Officer since 2019, and wish her well in her future endeavors,” officials said in a statement that did not offer a reason for the departure. “Terry joined Ocean on the brink of bankruptcy, and is leaving the property as a leading casino resort in Atlantic City. We are working through this transition, and will provide updates as they become available.”
Ocean ranked a distant sixth in brick-and-mortar casino revenue in 2019 at $215.7 million, and Glebocki took over the helm in December of that year.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered the casinos from mid-March until early July, Ocean’s $183.6 million in casino revenue ranked third behind Borgata and Hard Rock.
Through the first eight months of 2021, Ocean’s tally of $196.2 million has allowed it to maintain third-place status.
On the crucial plus/minus side, Ocean’s gross operating profits for the first half of 2021 were reported at $25 million, while the first half of 2020 produced a loss of $12.4 million.
Glebocki’s formula for success
After serving as chief financial officer at Ocean, Glebocki became the interim CEO in August 2019 — so she was ready to hit the ground running at the end of that year when her promotion became permanent.
Chief among the concerns was the fact that the property’s previous life under the name Revel — born 2012 for a cost of $2.4 billion, died 2014 after a second bankruptcy — was still on the minds of many consumers in spite of extensive renovations and rebranding efforts.
“The property had a history of being tone-deaf to most Atlantic City customers, and we’ve now overcome that,” Glebocki told NJ Online Gambling as she took over. “We knew it was important to listen to our guests’ ideas and concerns, and I’m proud to say that we’ve tailored the improvements made thus far to be responsive to what our guests expressed.”
Glebocki has more than 30 years of experience in the Atlantic City casino industry, including serving as vice president of finance for Trump Entertainment and chief financial officer for Tropicana as well as Revel, after initially working in internal auditing at Bally’s.
A complete revamping of the casino floor, a new high-limit slot machine area called The Cove, a private 2,000-square-foot luxury gaming suite located on the 44th floor called The Loft, and a high-end Asian games area were among the upgrades under Glebocki.
But Glebocki also said that improving the bottom line was a two-way street.
“We needed to grow the revenues while reducing expenses — certainly not the easiest things to do, but that’s what we did,” Glebocki said. “We increased marketing offers to drive visitation, examined every expense, and changed the fixed-cost structure.”
Pioneer in AC casino industry
Glebocki also has been serving as president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, and it is not yet clear if she will continue in that role. She had just been appointed to that post in April and expressed pride in becoming the first woman to hold that title.
This summer, Glebocki told one writer of Ocean’s future: “We have exciting plans for later this year, and into 2022. So this is just the beginning.”
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