The closing of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino this month looks more certain as Trump Entertainment filed a petition last week with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement asking for formal permission to close the casino.
The company has also closed the casino’s Chairman Tower and stopped issuing credit.
Also last week, the company announced it was engaged in a “last ditch” effort in negotiations with the city’s main casino union, Local 54 of UNITE HERE, that would keep the property open. The announced closing date of December 12 was pushed back to December 20 to allow those negotiations to continue. Language indicated that the closing could even be pushed back further if progress continues.
Trump Entertainment has been trying to stay open and has been in talks with its union and state officials to save the casino and its 3,000 jobs. A proposed bankruptcy plan for the casino depends upon Local 54 dropping an appeal of a bankruptcy court ruling allowing the casino to break its union contract.
The union has so far been unwilling to drop the appeal.
Under the bankruptcy plan, billionaire investor Carl Icahn would cancel the $286 million in company debts he owns in return for ownership of Trump Entertainment. Icahn would invest $100 million into the Taj Mahal.
Icahn also wants significant state and local tax breaks. Though state and city officials have rejected the idea, a new plan has emerged to help stabilize casino taxes in the resort. The plan would set a specific tax rate for the casinos cumulatively and effectively give casinos a 28 percent tax break.
Trump officials have not said whether such a plan—which is far from being enacted—would affect their ability to keep the casino open.
The shutdown petition said that the Taj Mahal will close at 5:59 a.m. on December 12, and the final hotel guests have until noon that day to check out. That will now obviously have to be amended.
Meanwhile, a bankruptcy hearing on whether Trump Entertainment Resorts should be liquidated instead of reorganized has been postponed for a week. No reason was given for the delay. The hearing is now planned for December 11.
