Trump Taj Mahal Expected To Close After November 13

If things weren’t already bad enough in the New Jersey casino market, The Trump Taj Mahal has now announced that in the absence of any “significant expense reductions, the gambling venue will likely close sometime after November 13, 2014.
Trump Entertainment Resorts owns two Atlantic City casinos, the Trump Plaza which is due to permanently shut on September 16th, and the Taj Mahal which will soon follow in its wake. As a result, Trump Entertainment Resorts has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. In fact, business has been so bad for the company that it missed its quarterly tax payment last month, and says it hasn’t even the money to pay lenders their interest due at the end of September.
Commenting on the dire situation, union president Bob McDevitt said the company had previously asked union members to forfeit their health insurance and pension plans, a measure designed to save $11 million per year, but as McDevitt, explains:
“If our members were to work for minimum wage with no benefits, it wouldn’t be enough to keep this property in the hands of its current owners for a year.”
The news will also come as a blow to its online gambling partners, Ultimate Gaming and Betfair, who are now in the process of ending their contracts with Trump Entertainment Resorts.
With Trump Taj Mahal’s closure, Atlantic City is due to lose five of its 12 casinos by the end of 2014, shedding 10,000 jobs in the process or one-fifth of AC’s workforce. Atlantic City casino revenues have now have fallen 44% off their 2006 peak of $5.2 billion, and last year revenue were just $2.9 billion. Once a premier destination for gamblers across America, Atlantic City now has to cope with increased competition from nearby states, such as New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, which have opened up more than 40 casinos over the past few years.
Original plans to help rescue AC’s gambling industry included allowing the $2.4 billion Revel casino to be built, hailed as “a turning point for Atlantic City” by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.” Revel has since declared bankruptcy, along with The Atlantic Club, Caesars Entertainment Corp’s Showboat, and now Trump Entertainment Resorts’ Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza Hotel casinos.