Trump Plaza, a casino associated with billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, has been closed, clearly illustrating the downward swing of Atlantic City. Trump Plaza is the fourth casino to close in the city in the past year.
In the beginning of the year, the city boasted of being home to 12 casinos. However, already three of those casinos have closed. Trump Taj Mahal will be closed in November. This increases the number of people who have already lost their jobs in the city since the beginning of the year.
Trump Plaza was opened in 1984, becoming the 10th casino in Atlantic City. Since its opening, many casinos have been opened and closed. After three decades, it is clear that the gambling industry in the Atlantic City is declining. Revenues from the casinos in the city have reduced significantly.
Trump Plaza, a 30 year old casino, was almost sold to a Californian company. However, the sale did not succeed after Carl Icahn, an investor, cut short the sale proceedings, arguing that the price of sale was too low.
This year casinos have experienced tough operational problems, leading to an upscale in their losses. Trump Plaza is one the casinos that recorded a loss in business this year. It lost a whooping 7.4 million dollars this year alone.
The closure of Trump Plaza comes after Showboat and Revel Casino hotels ceased operations. These closures have side effects that have been widely felt across the city's economy, especially through lost jobs.
Revel Casino was valued at $2.4 billion. It was shut down early this month just two years after it was opened. Six days after Revel shut down, TMZ released footage showing Rice, the Baltimore Ravens punching his current wife Janay Rice.
Trump Taj Mahal is the next casino that is expected to close by the 13th of November 2014.
In the first six months of the year, the casino has lost $1.3 million. A huge drop considering it made a profit of $12.6 million only last year.