Trump Taj Mahal Closure To Leave Just 7 Casinos in Atlantic City

After much delay and construction costs that ballooned to nearly one billion dollars, the Trump Taj Mahal opened in Atlantic City on April 2, 1990. Billionaire Carl Icahn subsequently bought the property from Trump Entertainment in 2009 after the company filed for bankruptcy, and despite surviving the economic hardship which forced the closure of four Atlantic City casinos in 2014, the Trump Taj Mahal, too, is now expected to shut its doors for business post-Labor Day on May 1st.
Despite Mr Icahn having high hopes for the Trump Taj Mahal, the venue has recently been plagued by an industrial dispute over health insurance and pension benefits by the casino’s main workers union. The strike has lasted since 1 July, and together with increased gambling competition from neighboring states, Mr Icahn has said that he has now lost almost $100 million since taking over the property. Commenting on the situation, Tropicana Entertainment president Tony Rodio, which runs the Taj Mahal, said:
“Our directors cannot just allow the Taj to continue burning through tens of millions of dollars when the union has singlehandedly blocked any path to profitability.”
Closure of the Trump Taj Mahal will result in around 3,000 people losing their jobs, representing yet another blow to Atlantic City’s casino industry which shed 8,000 workers in 2014 when The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel (Jan 13), the Showboat Casino Hotel (Aug 31), Revel (Sept 2), and Trump Plaza Hotel (Sept 16) were closed.
In the meantime, one of the workers who will soon lose his job at the Trump Taj Mahal, Pete Battaglini, 60, had his own take on what has caused the demise of yet another Atlantic City casino, stating:
“Carl Icahn said he was going to invest in the building, invest in the workers and get the Taj Mahal going to the days of what it used to be. Now today he announced he is going to close it. I feel that it’s just that Wall Street mentality, ‘We will take what we can get and then move on.’”