Icahn says that he spent $100 million trying to revive the Trump Taj Mahal, but was he was stymied, in part, by the longest strike in Atlantic City history, which started on July 1. It’s a classic take-the-money-and-run: Icahn takes hundreds of millions of dollars out of Atlantic City and then announces he is closing up shop.
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The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office says 39-year-old Rahime Adams was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the August 2014 robbery.
The closure of the Taj will come after a series of casino-resorts shuttered in Atlantic City in 2014, including the Revel Casino Hotel, Trump Plaza, Showboat and the Atlantic Club.
The Trump Taj Mahal was Atlantic City’s tallest building when it opened in 1990, and Marc Scittina got in on the ground floor, hoping to ride an elevator up into the middle class. The move forced today’s Republican candidate to give up his casino business in Atlantic City. With no end in sight to the strike, president and CEO of Tropicana Entertainment Anthony Rodio believes there is no “path to profitability”, and that due to the casino bleeding millions of dollars a month the closure is necessary to meet “fiduciary duties to their shareholders”. Icahn took it personally. By “you”, I mean the casino workers who made a decision to strike because you could not reach an agreement with owner Carl Icahn over health benefits.
On the Boardwalk outside the oceanfront casino Thursday, a small group of picketers chanted, “One day longer, one day stronger!” A workers’ strike that has been going on for over a month now seems to finally have broken the business for good.
The president of a union whose strike against the Trump Taj Mahal led owner Carl Icahn to decide to shut the gambling hall down is denouncing the billionaire investor. He didn’t think twice about joining the picket line in May when the union struck to get health insurance and better working conditions – even when management threatened to close what had once claimed to be the world’s largest casino. The strike at the casino-hotel follows union agreements with Tropicana Atlantic City and Caesars Entertainment, which owns Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort and Bally’s Atlantic City. According to figures reported by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the hotel and casino complex generated revenue of $85.2 million during the first half of 2016, down 3.6% from the same period of the previous year.
The Trump Taj was the city’s highest grossing casino until 2003.
Had the Taj closed in 2014, it would have been the capper on a awful year for Atlantic City, which, because of an economic downturn plus growing competition from casinos in other states, could no longer support a dozen casinos.
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“The great deal-maker would rather burn the Trump Taj Mahal down just so he can control the ashes”, Mr. McDevitt said.
