2014 has not been a good year for Atlantic City’s land based casinos. The city has lost 4 out of its 12 casinos and it looks as if the total number of closures will reach 5 by the end of the year. The first to close was the Atlantic Club and then Caesars Entertainment closed the Showboat Hotel Casino. This autumn saw the closure of two more casinos, The Revel casino resort and the Trump Plaza. The Revel Casino Resort had only been open for two years but it never made a profit over this time in operation and had to declare bankruptcy twice. When it opened in 2012, it had been hoped that the Revel complex would revive Atlantic City’s struggling gambling industry. There is however speculation that the new owners may re-open the Revel Casino but not in the near future. The most recent casino to close its doors was the Trump Plaza and the other casino belonging to Trump Entertainment Resorts, the Trump Taj Mahal is in serious financial trouble and is to close soon.
Last few months for the Trump Taj Mahal
The latest piece of casino gambling bad news in New Jersey concerns the troubled Trump Taj Mahal. The casino resort is in debt to the tune of $286 and most of this is held by the investor Carl Icahn. Icahn has come to an agreement with Trump Entertainment Resorts, the company that owns the Taj Mahal, to take over the casino and to invest 100 million dollars in it. Since the Taj Mahal is in serious financial difficulty and the owners initially claimed they couldn’t keep it open beyond mid-November an agreement was sought from the courts that they could stop paying the casino’s employees’ pensions and health care costs. A Federal Bankruptcy Court judge granted the request to end the casino’s health care and pensions plans contract with the Unite- HERE casino employees union and this triggered protests by the casinos 3 thousand workers.
Little hope of state investment
The agreement between Carl Icahn and Trump Entertainment Resorts also included seeking state aid of $175 in order to keep the casino open beyond November. It does not seem likely that the state will intervene financially. Earlier the Taj Mahal’s owners had hoped that the casino would be granted tax breaks to enable it to survive but this idea was not followed up by the company. The future does not look too bright for the Taj Mahal’s 3000 employees even though the casino’s owners have claimed they should be able to keep the complex open until the end of November. However it seems very likely that the Taj Mahal will become Atlantic City’s fifth casino closure this year and that its workers will be added to the 8000 who have already lost their jobs..
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