Analyst: Sale Of Revel Could Be Good And Bad For Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) - So now that the Revel's been sold, again, what's the future of the $2 billion hotel-casino at the north end of the Atlantic City boardwalk? And what does it mean for the town's other casinos?

Unlike Florida developer Glen Straub, who had no experience in the casino world, Colorado counterpart Bruce Deifik has a lot of it. That's according to analyst Roger Gros, who publishes Global Gaming Business Magazine out of Las Vegas.

"He actually ran a company in Las Vegas for quite some time which included some properties and some media stuff and things like that," Gros told KYW Newsradio. "So he's a well-known quantity in Vegas and in the investment industry."

Gros thinks the new Ocean Resort can, in fact, be up and running  by next summer. But pair that with the reopening of the old Taj Mahal later this year as a Hard Rock, and those moves could prove troublesome for the other 7 gaming halls.

"I think you're going to see the closure of at least one casino," Gros added, "and I think that casino would probably be Bally's just because it's been treading water itself for the last 5 or 6 years."

Five casinos closed, including the Taj Mahal, beginning in 2014 in a major readjustment of the gaming market in Atlantic City. Those that are still open have begin to turn a profit in the last year or so.