New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney is responding to concerns that the planned closing of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City is just a ploy to break the city’s casino union, which has been on strike at the property since July.
Sweeney has introduced a bill that would disqualify a casino license applicant from opening a casino for five years after “substantially” closing a casino in the state.
Sweeney said in a press release that the bill is in response to concerns that the casino—owned by billionaire Carl Icahn—will close and “warehouse” its casino license, or reopen the casino with reduced wages for workers.
Icahn has announced the Taj Mahal will close down October 10, putting about 2,800 employees out of work. Workers for unite HERE of Local 54—the city’s main casino union—have been on strike over health benefits since July.
The bill would amend existing law that gives gaming regulators the responsibility to require license holders to abide by certain standards and will update those standards to “prevent the manipulation of bankruptcy law and gaming licensing,” the release said.
“Labor disputes happen and usually get resolved one way or another,” Sweeney said in the release. “But casino owners shouldn’t be able to misuse bankruptcy laws and gaming regulations in order to warehouse a license or take money out of the pockets of casino workers and strip them of benefits simply because they refuse to come to a labor agreement with their employees.”
The state Division of Gaming Enforcement would determine what constitutes a “substantial closure” of a casino. The bill would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016, but would not apply to other casino licenses held by the owner, the release said.
“This bill encourages casino owners to keep their properties open and rebuild Atlantic City rather than keep their license and throw thousands of families to the curb,” Sweeney said in the statement.
