The situation for Atlantic City’s remaining casinos continues with the possible closure of the Trump Taj Mahal casino. The Taj Mahal’s owners Trump Entertainment Resorts are hoping that an appeal made in a letter sent by the company to the billionaire investor Carl Icahn will result in him saving the casino. Carl Icahn owns most of the Taj Mahal’s debt and the casino’s owners had hoped that he would still invest the 100 milion dollars that he had proposed to revive the Taj Mahal. However, the tax breaks that the investor had wanted to receive do not seem to be on the cards. To date there hasn’t been a reply from Icahn to the Trump Entertainment Resort’s letter so it isn’t known yet whether he will invest in the failing casino or not.
Five out of Atlantic City’s casinos closed?
At the moment, including the Taj Mahal which may soon close, there are only eight casinos remaining in business in Atlantic City. In recent months the Atlantic Club, the Showboat Casino, The Trump Plaza and The Revel casinos have all ceased trading. The remaining eight land based casinos brought in just over 193 million dollars altogether last month which is a rise of 7.2 per cent when compared to November 2013. The only casino of the eight (besides the Taj Mahal) to make a loss in November was Bally’s. Last month the Taj Mahal lost just over 19 per cent in revenue compared to the income for November last year. The casino made 14.7 million dollars last month. The date mentioned for the closure of the Taj Mahal is the 20th of December which would make it the fifth Atlantic City casino to close.
Last minute deal with the workers’ union?
In October a bankruptcy court ruled that the owners of the Taj Mahal could break a health and pensions contract agreement with the casinos employees. The workers’ union, Local 54 of the Unite-HERE trade union has appealed this decision and Trump Entertainment Resorts had issued the union with a dead line this week to drop the appeal so that the casino might stay open longer. The casino’s owners did reach agreement to recommence health insurance cover and to start a new pension plan for its employees but since the workers will not have all their demands met, the union hasn’t so far agreed to this plan. If Trump entertainment Resorts can come to an agreement with the workers union and also if Carl Icahn is willing to fund the casino during the appeal, the owners believe the Taj Mahal could survive until the middle of next year and so prevent a further 3000 Atlantic City casino employees from losing their jobs.
Leave A Comment