Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Trump casino licenses renewed

ATLANTIC CITY -- New Jersey casino regulators renewed the operating licenses of Donald Trump's three debt-laden casinos Wednesday, but vowed to keep a watchful eye on how they fare once the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa opens next month.

The state Casino Control Commission gave four-year license renewals to Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina, finding that each has the financial stability required under New Jersey casino law to hold licenses.

But Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. officials were ordered to make "midterm" reports on the company's finances in two years.

"While I conclude that the Trump licensees have met their burden, there are factors and uncertainties that demand our continuing, careful scrutiny of the Trump properties' ongoing financial stability," Commission Chair Linda Kassekert said.

The unanimous vote came five months after Trump and then-Attorney General David Samson locked horns over Trump's failure to improve his casinos and lower the company's debt.

In January, when Trump officials needed the state's OK for a $490 million bond sale, Samson and other state regulators pointed out that neither Trump's flagship Trump Taj Mahal nor Trump Plaza had had major improvements in more than six years.

The problem is that Trump Hotels, which carries about $1.8 billion in debt, has been too strapped for cash to make the improvements other Atlantic City casinos have in preparation for the opening of the Borgata.

The 2,002-room Borgata, a joint venture of Boyd Gaming Corp. and MGM MIRAGE, is expected to siphon business from Boardwalk casinos after it opens in the marina district Thursday.

Trump, who is engaged in a bitter fight with state Sen. William L. Gormley over state plans to impose new taxes on the casino industry, did not attend the hearing.

Instead, Trump Hotels President Mark Brown told regulators the three casinos would be able to withstand the entry of Borgata into the market and said Trump Marina, which is located nearby, would benefit from it.

He said Trump's casinos will lose gamblers to Borgata initially, but said the addition of the 2,002 rooms would help all the casinos, which routinely turn away cash-paying customers for lack of rooms to house them. "There's that untapped market of people who want to come to town, want to go to dinner, want to see a show but they don't want to gamble," Brown said.

He said Trump Hotels has plans to add hotel towers at all three casinos, but that it cannot borrow the money necessary until the impact of Borgata is known.

Thomas Auriemma, director of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, said there was no connection between negotiations over casino tax proposals in Trenton and the state's decision to relicense Trump's casinos.

"The Trump Organization has satisfied us that they have a well thought-out plan and can achieve the goals they've set out for themselves," Auriemma said.

"Whatever else has happened with the tax proposals, it has had no bearing on this," he said.

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