Trump Staying in Atlantic City Gaming Industry
While much of Atlantic City ponders whether expansions and new casinos will occur as planned in the face of the worsening economy, Donald Trump is holding onto his investments and upgrading them. The three Trump properties are no longer for sale, and the second tower of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort is almost complete.
Trump has come near to selling the Taj Mahal, along with its two sister properties, the Trump Plaza Hotel, and the Trump Marina Casino Hotel, at least twice within the last year. However, he stated today that the hotels were no longer on the market.
The Taj Mahal took in $508.5 million last year, about average for the city's eleven casinos;
but the Plaza, with $280 million, and the Marina, with $241 million, were the lowest of the casinos in revenue.
The top of the new second tower at the Taj Mahal was placed today, and that wing should be open for business by the begining of September. The completion of the hotel will give Trump Enterprises almost 4000 rooms in Atlantic City.
Trump also took the opportunity to critisize the push in the City Council to expand the smoking ban to include the entire casino floors. Business in Atlantic City is already troubled enough without imposing laws that drive people to go elsewhere with their gambling dollars, he explained.
