Atlantic Club files for Chapter 11

[JT]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/2 ... 45b28.html

[DaBurglar]

I was in AC this last week and I spent a couple nights in AC club.....the mood was definitely forboding, and then when I bought my Press of AC paper on Friday Morning and read the story things made perfect sense! What a sordid story.....basically the AC club is dying an agonizingly slow death and management is facing a huge unfunded pension liability when out of the blue, in October 2012, POKERSTARS sweeps in and offers to buy the casino for 15 million!!   I actually remember being there at the AC Club in december 2012 when Pokerstars started "paying in advance" the 15 million bucks, how everyone there was GIDDY and Jubiliant like they had been saved (or hit the lotto!)   Little did I realize back then what was actually going on.... So Pokerstars forks over 11 million of the 15 million purchase price in advance, long before they even get approval for the purchase.....and then, for reasons NO ONE IS STILL clear about, AC CLUB just up and bails out on Pokerstars, and says "by the way, the money you gave us in advance to purchase us, we are keeping it even though you are not purchasing us any longer!" Anyone else find this whole thing really sordid and awful and scumbaggish???    I mean, for all you people out there that have put SO MUCH trust in all these regulatory bodies and gaming authorities always keeping things in the casino business on the level, there is no way you can read this crap and not blanche. Now you see why I have always been saying it is not only POSSIBLE that some casinos are crooked (in both business practices and gaming) but it is LIKELY at least a few are, because these so-called regulatory boards everyone counts on for snatching away licenses from wayward casinos are in actuality suprisingly limited in some situations from doing anyting of the sort. The question on everyone's mind, as I departed AC yesterday, was just exactly HOW the New jersey commission has allowed all this recent crap to occur on its watch (the whole Revel fiasco, and now this AC Club business.)    My answer (in part) is they are too busy using what few agents they still have after massive layoffs to chase away underage gamblers and drinkers that infiltrate AC's casinos every weekend!    Im not joking.....

[Tedlark]

  DaBurglar there has to be more to the AC Club being purchased by Pokerstars than what has been stated. There has to be a reason contractually as to why the AC Club is not returning the front money to Pokerstars. Right now this is a civil litigation but because it could evolve into fraud, then criminal charges may be prefered. If the 11 million was placed in escrow, where it belongs until the purchase was completed, then the money should be easily returned to Pokerstars. If it wasn't placed into escrow and instead rolled into AC Club daily operating accounts where it obviously cannot be recovered as easily, then shame on Pokerstars.

[DaBurglar]

  DaBurglar there has to be more to the AC Club being purchased by Pokerstars than what has been stated. There has to be a reason contractually as to why the AC Club is not returning the front money to Pokerstars. Right now this is a civil litigation but because it could evolve into fraud, then criminal charges may be prefered. If the 11 million was placed in escrow, where it belongs until the purchase was completed, then the money should be easily returned to Pokerstars. If it wasn't placed into escrow and instead rolled into AC Club daily operating accounts where it obviously cannot be recovered as easily, then shame on Pokerstars.
  The story in the Press of AC on Friday November 8, in the real actual newspaper, was that Pokerstars started forking over amounts that wents as high as $750,000  PER WEEK starting the end of October 2012, after they made a handshake agreement pending Regulatory Board approval of the purchase.  Pokerstars funded AC CLUBS operational Shortfall for the next 6+ months until the deal supposedly "fell apart" when it appeared Pokerstars would have a LONG approval process due to its own problems with "black Friday" and the money they supposedly laundered and/or stole from USA players (which by the way, Pokerstars has now paid back, unlike the other culprits of Black Friday, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.) It seems Tedlark your statement of "shame on Pokerstars"  is actually quite spot on:   Because Pokerstars essentially "Donated" the funds in advance without any firm written deal in place, essentially preying upon AC Club's obvious desperation at the time, this is why the Judge has (so far) sided with AC Club, although not without some harsh words for AC Club and its whole modus operandi as well! It smacks of scumbaggishness on all fronts.....As I mentioned before, lurking in the background of AC Club's turmoil is this apparent UNFUNDED PENSION liability of over 30 million bucks!    I mean, WTF is going on with all these people?!?!   AC Club, the group that owns it, the NJ Gaming Control board that allows such crap to happen, and Pokerstars for allowing itself to become sullied with another crapstorm! How bad is this whole story?  Consider that in 2005 AC CLUB (then the AC HILTON) was sold for over 500 MILLION (half a billion).....now its price tag is 15 million!    That means a whole lot of Public School Teachers in California and Oregon, who owned shares of some real estate trust back in 2005, lost almost everything when the company their pensions were funding bought such a TURD of an asset as AC Hilton. 500 million down to 15 million????   Oh sure, no danger there of such a casino rigging its games in order to survive right???   I mean come on, what do they have left to lose at this point?    I'm not saying for certain they did rig anything, but the obvious temptation and cause is there!    Who cares about losing a license when you are bleeding money on that scale!

[Tedlark]

  Two words commonly used in business: DUE DILLIGENCE. I can't believe the way that this was handled by Pokerstars because they could have written up the payments as loans to the AC Club and then be used to draw down the final purchase price and this could have put Pokerstars as a creditor in the event that AC Club filed b/r.
 
   I'm no Philadelphia lawyer but I am a streetsmart guy who knows how to CYA.

[DaBurglar]

I have two free nights coming up on December 5 and 6 at A C   club, I am using it as my home base for another poker tournament at Borgata.    For what its worth, I like the AC club (aka  Hilton) because some of there rooms are actually quite cozy and comfortable in my opinion and I just like both the layout and the vibe/atmosphere.    Being smaller than everyone else in AC,  the AC club is less overwhelming and more relaxed in its vibe which I like.    I just wish it was not in such dire straits financially......and I wish the little video Poker it has would actually pay once in a while!    As far as I can tell, the BEST VP machines in the AC club (in terms of paying as close to what the paytable implies) are the games over in the Dolphin Bar on the Bartops!     I am serious.....only trouble is, the Dolphin Bar keeps screwy hours during the slow winter months so the VP games in the bar are often not playable!       That's one big difference between AC and Vegas......in Vegas  bartop Video Poker is extremely common, whereas in AC it is not too common.   Plus, in a vegas casino, if a bar is not serving drinks and is closed, generally the games are still on and playable.But back to AC club. some of their rooms have these nice Hot tub whirlpool baths which I personally love for my back and legs, all the rooms number "31"  and "32" on each floor by the elevator have these awesome tubs   (i.e.  room 532, 632, 732, 1132  etc.)   I try to get such a room when I visit.    Alas, I heard disturbing news/rumors about AC club a couple days ago (and I never got down there last week 11/18 thru 11/20 during the Borgata tourney I played then):    I heard the donut and pastry cafe on the second floor is only open on the weekends now.....anyone verify this or not???    I am really worried because that little coffee/pastry place was my favorite early morning experience in all of AC.....their donuts were awesome and the coffee really good and non-acidic.   I will literally cry if I get there and no coffee or donuts (or the occasional blueberry muffin which were also great there)AC club actually has (or HAD) some VERY good food in the form of PAtsy's Italian food (frank sinatras favorite),  the ONO Asian Bistro is VERY good, and Simons Steaks WAS one of the best Values in AC (or anywhere for that matter) until the water main broke and flooded the entire restaurant back in MAY, and all the while they have had signs up saying they are fixing it and will reopen soon they tell us carnivore steak lovers to go to Patsy's or ONO to get one of SImon's great steaks......lol wtf?      Come to find out, since AC club spent all of the "free" poker stars money it mooched, it cannot afford to fix the water main so Simons remains closed!Unreal....if any of you had a chance to eat at simons before the flood, you know their steaks were actually priced almost HALF what every other premium casino steak house charges and yet quality remained the same!    Example:  Simon's Filet Mignon 10 Oz was around 25 bucks. while the same cut at places like Prime (@ Trop), or Robertos (Taj) o Scarduzio (showboat) was around 45 to 50 bucks!!!!!!     The ribeye, and Sirloin were similarly disposed in both price (less) and quality (equal or greater) compared to others.......makes you realize and understand just how OVERPRICED most casino food usually is, so that when a customer gets comped they perceive FAR greater value than they actually are getting.

[BillyJoe]

makes you realize and understand just how OVERPRICED most casino food usually is, so that when a customer gets comped they perceive FAR greater value than they actually are getting.

Hmmm - Dollars I have to spend when I get comped... ZERO.  I don't really care what the list price is. If the food is good, that is value to me.

[DaBurglar]

[QUOTE=DaBurglar] makes you realize and understand just how OVERPRICED most casino food usually is, so that when a customer gets comped they perceive FAR greater value than they actually are getting.
Hmmm - Dollars I have to spend when I get comped... ZERO.  I don't really care what the list price is. If the food is good, that is value to me. [/QUOTE]
  Yeah, I get it Billyjoe, plus you factor in the money to earn the comps is already spent/blown in the form of gambling losses (unless you hit a 72K jackpot while half in the bag staring at some cute waitresses arse!   har har giggle snort) But I am very selective where and when and how I use my comps......I would rather have 7 morning visits for coffee and donuts comps at my favorite cafe (say, 6 comp dollars per visit, times 7 for a total of 42 comp dollars spent)   versus  having a good steak ONCE at 40 comp dollars.   to each their own

[Tedlark]

  I guess one man's steak is another man's plain donut.

[DaBurglar]

  I guess one man's steak is another man's plain donut. no no no no no!!!  Not Plain donut ........   !       I eat Jelly, glazed, sugar twist and the occasssional coffee roll which is typically doused in cinnamon!!!GIMME A LITTLE CREDIT TEDLARK, I may be a kook and a total whackjob about some topics, but I am not so plain and boring when it comes to my DONUTS!!!!!!