\nWILMINGTON, Del. (AP) \u2013 A federal bankruptcy court judge will issue what the owners of Atlantic City\u2019s Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort consider a life-or-death decision on Friday for the troubled gambling hall.<\/p>\n
\tTrump Entertainment Resorts and billionaire investor Carl Icahn want the judge to cancel the casino\u2019s union contract, saying it can\u2019t survive without shedding costly pension and health care obligations.<\/p>\n
\tAllan Brilliant, a lawyer for Icahn, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross on Tuesday that Trump Entertainment needs the financial relief that breaking the union contract would provide. As the judge appeared to be making up his mind whether to rule on the question, Brilliant said if the decision went against the company, the business could not survive.<\/p>\n
\tTrump Entertainment has threatened to close the casino by Nov. 13 if it cannot shed its pension and health care obligations to the Taj Mahal\u2019s 3,000 workers.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf you don\u2019t grant the \u2026 motion, it\u2019s just not viable as a business,\u201d Brilliant said. \u201cUltimately very quickly the casino will close. This is the window here; the window is open.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIcahn, who owns the Taj Mahal\u2019s $286 million in debt, would swap that debt for ownership of the casino, and invest $100 million into it. But that investment is contingent on massive government aid from Atlantic City and the state.<\/p>\n
\tKris Hansen, a lawyer for Trump Entertainment, made a similar argument.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf you do grant it, we have a chance to stay alive,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cThe cost structure of this casino doesn\u2019t work, and it needs to be fixed. If we\u2019re successful, employees get to keep their jobs, even though they made some concessions. Having a job is better than not having a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tEarlier in the day, he likened the Taj Mahal to a critically ill patient on an operating table with a room full of doctors all looking at each other, with no one doing anything to save the patient.<\/p>\n
\tThe company says it needs big union concessions and massive tax breaks from Atlantic City and New Jersey \u2013 both of which have already rejected the demand. It originally sought to have Atlantic City lower its property tax assessments by nearly 80 percent, to have the state contribute $25 million in tax credits, and for union workers to give up their pension and health insurance. It would provide $2,000 stipends for workers to find their own coverage under the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n
\tKathy Krieger, a lawyer for Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union, said Icahn is trying to profit on the backs of the low-wage workers. She characterized Icahn\u2019s stance as, \u201cLet\u2019s look at the poorest of the stakeholders here and make sure they give up everything permanently before we\u2019re even willing to move. That\u2019s absolute nonsense. \u201d<\/p>\n
\tShe said Icahn, who also owns the Tropicana Casino and Resort, is \u201casking for major concessions that will give him a huge competitive advantage over every other casino in Atlantic City.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAfter getting a negative reaction from Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian and state Senate President Steve Sweeney, the company revised its financial request from the state. It is now seeking $175 million in relief through a so-called PILOT program \u2013 payments in lieu of taxes \u2013 and the receipt of two types of state economic grant not usually available to casinos: the Economic Redevelopment Grant and the Urban Revitalization Grant. State legislators would have to vote on letting the casinos into the program.<\/p>\n
\tThe Taj Mahal would be the fifth of Atlantic City\u2019s 12 casinos to close this year. The company was supposed to have told state casino regulators by Monday whether they planned to close the casino, but got an extension until Oct. 20 to see what the judge decides.<\/p>\n
\tIts lawyers said the casino\u2019s financial situation is so dire that it has been selling used mattresses and televisions from the closed Trump Plaza casino to generate extra cash.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) \u2013 A federal bankruptcy court judge will issue what the owners of Atlantic City\u2019s Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort consider a life-or-death decision on Friday for the troubled gambling hall. Trump Entertainment Resorts and billionaire investor Carl…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}