Trump Taj Mahal Casino Could Close In November48-Table Poker Room Could Be No More |
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One of Atlantic City’s iconic poker rooms could close in November, as the parent company of Trump Taj Mahal might be looking to board up the entire casino thanks to bankruptcy.
Trump Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday and warned that the Taj Mahal could be a casualty.
The firm’s other casino, Trump Plaza, is set to close in a matter of days.
If the Taj goes down, Atlantic City will have just seven casinos by year’s end. The seaside town, once the gambling hub of the Northeast, started the year with 12 brick-and-mortar casinos.
The Taj has been featured in a number of movies, including the poker cult classic Rounders, in which stars Matt Damon and Edward Norton play a session in the casino’s poker room. With 48 tables, the room is the second largest in Atlantic City behind the Borgata.
If the Taj does close, just five poker rooms will remain in Atlantic City.
The casino employed about 2,800 people as of July 31, according to the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, Press of Atlantic City reported.
From the Press of Atlantic City report:
Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts, wrote in bankruptcy papers filed Monday in Delaware that “Absent expense reductions, particularly concessions from their unions, the Debtors expect that the Taj Mahal will close on or shortly after November 13, 2014 and that all operating units will be terminated between November 13, 2014 and November 27, 2014.”
The Taj has had a slight operating loss for the first six months of 2014.
Trump Entertainment has filed for bankruptcy before, with the latest coming in in 2009.
This time is different because Atlantic City as a whole is in much worse shape.
Last month, real estate giant Donald Trump filed a lawsuit demanding that his name be removed from the two Atlantic City casinos. He still has a small stake in the casinos.
The Taj opened in 1990 and has more than 160,000 square feet of gaming floor space. The casino remained the largest and highest grossing in the city until the opening of Borgata in 2003.
The Taj has been offering online gambling in the state of New Jersey via a partnership with Ultimate Gaming. Trump Plaza has done so via a partnership with Betfair.
Whenever the casinos surrender their respective licenses, that’s when their online gambling operations would stop, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
Both the Taj and Trump Plaza have had a rough time drumming up business for their online casinos. Internet gaming was legalized in New Jersey to prevent casino closings.
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