AC's Trump Plaza To Close By September

2014 is fast becoming the year in which Atlantic City’s ailing casino industry finally started adapting to changing circumstances in the US market, and began shedding its excess supply. On January 1st, the east coast gambling resort had a total of 12 casinos, but by the end of September that figure could be reduced by a third to just eight.
First to shut shop was the Atlantic Club Casino in January, followed by the Showboat Casino which announced it would close this summer as well. Next, Atlantic City’s so-called industry changer, the $2.4 billion Revel casino, declared bankruptcy for the second time in less than two years, and now the Trump Plaza Casino have revealed it expects to shut its business this September.
Costing $210 million to build, the Trump Plaza Casino originally opened in 1984 but the venue has consistently ranked near the bottom of AC’s casinos and in 2013 generated a mere $73 million in revenues. Last year, the owners even tried to sell the business for $20 million, or a tenth of its original cost, a deal that ultimately fell through. Following news of its closure, Senator Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, said:
“It’s a disaster. This is going to impact all sectors of the economy, from big stores to real estate values and on and on.”
Atlantic City’s gambling industry has been waning since hitting a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006, and last year revenues had fallen to  just $3.05 billion. Trump Plaza’s imminent closure is expected to cost the city another 1,000 jobs, which added to losses for The Atlantic Club (1,600), the Showboat (2,100), and Revel (3,100) mean around 7,800 casino workers will have lost their livelihoods this year alone.
The unemployment rate in Atlantic City currently stands at 10.3%, well above the national rate of 6.1%. However, the situation may still have to worsen before AC’s saturated casino market sees an improvement, and as John Palmieri, the executive director of New Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, explains:
“We still have five or six relatively successful casinos. There were 12. Can we support nine’ Will that end up dropping to seven or eight’ That’s the big question.”