Ocean Resort Casino grand opening rides wave of Atlantic City optimism

The highly-anticipated Ocean Resort Casino opened its doors along the Atlantic City Boardwalk Thursday afternoon, becoming one of two new luxury resorts promising to pump life back into the struggling city.

Ocean Resort’s new owners, who set to work on transforming the shuttered $2.6 billion Revel in January, celebrated the transformation of Atlantic City’s tallest building and looked forward to a revitalization of the city’s boardwalk.

“Atlantic city is truly back in the game,” said Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam, speaking at the second of two casino grand openings Thursday. “This is truly a collaboration of folks, realizing that (this) is an important part of not only Atlantic City history, but world history.”