Benihana Hotel-Casino / Carnival (or Carousel) Club Hotel Casino[edit]
The Shelburne Hotel (Atlantic City) was leased to Japanese investors Rocky Aoki, owner of the Benihana restaurant chain, and Takashi Sasakawa, who planned to keep the existing hotel as well as add a 31-story tower and casino calling it the Benihana Hotel-Casino.[13] In 1983 work crews began to renovate the hotel, however, disagreements between the Malmut family (owners of the hotel), the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, and outside investors led Akoi and Sasakawa to abandon the project after investing over $25 million in construction and renovations.[14] Sasakawa was the son of noted Japanese fascist and philanthropist Ryoichi Sasakawa, who had links with the Yakuza.[15] Aoki and Sasakawa had also faced charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading in the stock of Hardwicke Companies, which had planned to manage the hotel/casino.[16]

After the Benihana Hotel-Casino project stopped, the Shelburne Hotel (Atlantic City) was acquired in 1984 by Blumenfeld Development Corp. and the hotel was demolished. The company applied for a casino license on July 23, 1985. In 1986 a groundbreaking was held for the intended construction of the Carousel Club Hotel Casino. (It was originally called the Carnival Club Hotel Casino, but the name was changed after Carnival Cruise Lines sued them.) However, the company did not obtain sufficient financing and after foreclosure the property was sold to Bally's Manufacturing Corp., which built Bally's Wild Wild West Casino in 1997.[17][18][19][20]