Carl Icahn wants to revitalize the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and save yourself thousands of jobs along the way, but it is said by him cannot be done unless local union workers are willing to compromise. Unhappy union employees, shown only at a youthful protest, feel otherwise.
Billionaire Carl Icahn has acquired the Trump Taj Mahal, exchanging $292 million he’s owed for complete ownership of the casino in a deal that was approved by this new Jersey Casino Control Commission this week.
Icahn says he shall invest another $100 million to revitalize the resort and also to keep the Atlantic City landmark solvent.
‘We believe whenever you pull into the Taj Mahal, it is dirty, it’s dated, and it takes to be freshened up,’ Trump Entertainment CEO Robert Griffin stated of the settlement. ‘I feel very highly that the Taj Mahal will prosper.’
That is no effortless task, however, because the north end boardwalk gambling venue continues to operate at a loss, including being $8.7 million in the red for 1st quarter of 2015. The hotel’s 2,010 spaces had been less than 50 per cent full through the very first three months of this a drastically lower rate than that of the other seven casino hotels that averaged occupancy levels of around 70 to 85 percent year.
Icahn is optimistic he can restore the Taj to its former days of glory. But one key condition the mogul insists on is that neighborhood 54 additionally the UNITE HERE unions stop their pursuit of having a court mandate Icahn to reinstate benefits for employees which were terminated by Trump Entertainment during bankruptcy proceedings.
The other Atlantic City casino under his ownership on Wednesday, Icahn told reporters he sees the Taj being reestablished much like he did with the Tropicana.
‘Although Local 54 seems fixated at all costs on damaging the Taj, and risking its closing and the loss of almost 3,000 jobs, I am positive,’ Icahn said.
Icahn also released a letter to Local 54 Taj employees this week that likens the national UNITE HERE organization up to a Ponzi scheme that uses dues to enrich the lives of its leadership at a cost that is detrimental its users.
‘It is an fact that is undisputable your union leadership refused to negotiate with the Taj as its losses were mounting plus it was pushed into bankruptcy. Your union leadership refused to consider any concession that would have aided keep the Taj afloat, and that is because your jobs do not matter to the union leadership,’ Icahn had written.
The once bustling gambling mecca of this east coast is now house to just eight total casinos, and Icahn now has control of two, or 25 percent of the town’s video gaming venues. That means along side Caesars Entertainment, owners of Bally’s, Caesars Atlantic City, and Harrah’s, Icahn has a monopoly that is small the city where the overall game of Monopoly is based.
Thought it’s understandable union workers want and need their wellness insurance and pension benefits reinstated, their tactics might be going about any of it within the way that is wrong. This week, Local 54 delivered a letter to Icahn’s midtown Manhattan office having a list of its demands, along side an apple pie, a dig in response to Icahn saying ‘apple pie and flowers isn’t how a globe works’ earlier this year.
Today officially official: After many months of unofficial fundraising, Jeb Bush confirmed his bid for the 2016 GOP nomination. The son and brother of two past United States presidents is hoping to separate your lives his campaign from his rather family name that is famous. Type of. (Image: Erik Schelzig/AP)
Jeb Bush joined the ever-expanding crowd of Republican candidates in the 2016 election that is presidential Monday, with an statement at Miami-Dade College in the afternoon. But unlike most of the over a dozen prospects in the GOP field, Bush will be hoping to run from a position of strength, as he will be one for the favorites for the celebration’s nomination within the early going for the campaign.
‘ In virtually any language my message is a good one, that we can make the decades just ahead in America the greatest time ever to be alive in this world,’ the latest Bush political dynasty candidate opined, using both English and Spanish to address the live and undoubtedly massive TV audience because I am certain.
Columba Bush, a first-generation Mexican immigrant who married Jeb 41 years ago, could show critical in helping him reach Hispanic voters. (Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty)
Columba Bush, who was hitched to your politician for 41 years and had been initially from León, Guanajuato in Mexico, will certainly be an essential force in a country grappling with immigration and dual-language dilemmas on a almost daily basis.
In reality, the story goes that Mrs. Bush did not also speak English whenever she married Jeb back in 1974. Her mother ended up being reportedly a worker that is migrant food server.
Bush may need the assistance. Although the former Florida governor is often the first choice in national polls of Republican voters, though that advantage is incredibly narrow. In reality, it may be more accurate to look at Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio as co-leaders at this early stage.
That stated, Bush has plenty of advantages that will make their campaign a strong one. For one, he will have no difficulty money that is raising.
One super PAC that is backing him had hoped to increase $100 million by the conclusion of June, and while they will almost certainly come up short of this objective, it’s clear there will be lots of funding for the Bush war chest.
He will likewise have numerous endorsements from Republican establishment figures, as well as a title that voters are familiar with, although his Jeb! 2016 slogan seems to indicate he is wanting not to ever drive on at least the obvious of coattails. After all, that famous name that is last a double-edged sword, according to which voters you are chatting to.
While both his brother and father have previously served as president, Jeb Bush is trying to avoid being seen merely because the next in line of succession, with a ‘royal’ aspect that many voters may perhaps not be comfortable with.
Of course, by any reasonable standard, Bush’s campaign has been underway for months, but he has carefully skirted the line to prevent officially launching a campaign organization until now. On the weekend, Bush told CNN that becoming a candidate that is official allow him to better articulate his message to the American individuals.
‘we think this transition to a candidacy will allow me to be more direct about my advocacy regarding the leadership skills necessary for the next president to fix a few things,’ Bush said while in, of all places, Estonia on the weekend. ‘ And as a candidate, contrary to someone who has been listening and learning along the real way, I’ll supply alternatives to the trail we’re on aswell, therefore i will be more specific on policy.’
It’s uncertain whether we’ll get any information on Bush’s video gaming policies, but his past stances on gambling problems whilst governor of Florida make it pretty clear as he strongly opposed gambling expansion in the state that he is no fan of casinos. Their stances on Internet gambling are less clear, though it’s hard to imagine he could be any friendlier to online poker and casino games than he was for their land-based counterparts.
Perhaps moreover to his campaign, Bush may have to make an impression on conservative voters who’ren’t fundamentally on board together with his stances on immigration and education, both areas where his wife can become a campaign that is important. He also recently struggled with questions over how he would have handled the war in Iraq, and fired planet 7 oz coupons 2018 his campaign manager just last week due to squabbles inside his camp.
The Golden Nugget has seen huge gains in its online gambling operations throughout the past year. (Image: GoldenNugget.com)
New Jersey’s online gambling market continues to grow, helping fortify the remaining eight gambling enterprises still operating in Atlantic City.
But while the entire figures are positive, not all games and casinos are sharing equally into the fortune that is good.
In line with the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), on the web gambling profits were as much as $12.47 million in May.
That represents an increase in excess of 19 per cent over last May, when the sites brought in just $10.47 million.
But that growth has been fueled nearly entirely by online casinos. In contrast, online poker rooms are struggling. Internet poker brought in only under $1.93 million in May, down from $2.27 million in identical month year that is last.
That figure marks the second-lowest monthly revenue for on-line poker in New Jersey, with only last November trailing the absolute most recent month.
Once responsible for a quarter or maybe more of on line gambling revenues in nj-new jersey, poker is now no more than 15 percent for the market.
On the poker side of things, the 888/World group of Poker partnership felt most of the damage. The $831,799 they introduced through their Internet poker partnership had been an all-time low, while their only competitor in the state, Borgata/partypoker, held fairly steady.
Holding steady was a theme for the Borgata, as its general Internet revenues were down by about one percent also.
It really is still the market that is online, collecting about 32 percent of all of the revenues, but growth generally seems to have stalled: the company has yet to beat out its 2014 performance online in any month this year.
On the other hand, a few organizations have observed their online offerings lose, none less than the Golden Nugget.
The casino has taken full advantage to the fact that BetfairCasino.com is now operating through them considering that the closure regarding the Trump Plaza, and it has ridden that new partnership to a clear second place in hawaii’s iGaming landscape.
But while the online numbers may show a mix of ups and downs for Atlantic City’s casinos, the overall numbers for the industry had been very encouraging in May. Overall, casinos won $208.6 million for the month, 5.3 percent more than those same eight casinos took in year that is last.
To be certain, the pie that is overall still smaller: if you include three more casinos which were operating last May but have since closed, the revenues are down by about 9 per cent.
But with fewer casinos in the mix, the May revenues still represent a excellent result for the casinos that are still in operation.
‘That’s a strong showing for what our detractors say is a weak market,’ said brand New Jersey Casino Control Commission Chairman Matt Levinson. ‘Whether you look at the outcomes for usually the one month or for the initial five months of this year, total gaming revenue is up for the present operators. The size of industry are smaller, but the wellness of this operators that are current getting stronger.’
The winner that is biggest had been Caesars, which saw its month-to-month revenues enhance by 51 percent over last might. That was largely because of especially unlucky month in high-stakes table games last year for Caesars.
Only two casinos were down year-over-year, like the Borgata, which saw revenues fall by 4.7 percent but nonetheless effortlessly led the city with $56.1 million for the month. Also down was the Trump Taj Mahal, that will be in the act of being obtained by Carl Icahn.