
Carl Icahn desires to revitalize the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and conserve thousands of jobs in the process, but he says it can’t be done unless local union workers are prepared to compromise. Unhappy union workers, 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 the latest Jersey Casino Control Commission this week.
Icahn says he will 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 requires to be freshened up,’ Trump Entertainment CEO Robert Griffin stated associated with the settlement. ‘I feel extremely strongly that the Taj Mahal will prosper.’
That are no simple task, however, while the north end boardwalk gambling venue continues to operate at a loss, including being $8.7 million in the red for the very first quarter of 2015. The hotel’s 2,010 rooms were less than 50 percent full throughout the first three months associated with a drastically lower rate than that of the other seven casino hotels that averaged occupancy levels of around 70 to 85 percent year.
Icahn’t Stay Unions
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 and also the UNITE HERE unions stop their pursuit of having a court mandate Icahn to reinstate benefits for workers that were terminated by Trump Entertainment during bankruptcy procedures.
On Wednesday, Icahn told reporters he sees the Taj being reestablished much like he did with the Tropicana, the other Atlantic City casino under his ownership.
‘Although regional 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 nationwide UNITE HERE organization to a Ponzi scheme that uses dues to enrich the lives of its leadership at a cost that is detrimental its users.
‘It is definitely an undisputable fact that 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 assisted keep the Taj afloat, and that’s because your jobs don’t matter to the union leadership,’ Icahn wrote.
Icahnoclast
The once bustling gambling mecca regarding the east coast is now home to simply eight total casinos, and Icahn now has control of two, or 25 percent of the town’s gaming venues. That means along with Caesars Entertainment, owners of Bally’s, Caesars Atlantic City, and Harrah’s, Icahn has a little monopoly on the town where the game of Monopoly is situated.
Thought it is understandable union workers want and need their wellness insurance coverage and retirement advantages reinstated, their tactics might be going about this within the way that is wrong. This week, Local 54 delivered a page to Icahn’s midtown Manhattan office with a list of its demands, along side an apple pie, a dig in response to Icahn saying ‘apple pie and roses isn’t what sort of world works’ earlier this year.
Jeb Bush Latest GOP Candidate to Enter Republican Presidential Race
Officially official: After many months of unofficial fundraising, Jeb Bush confirmed no deposit bonus codes for planet 7 oz his bid for the 2016 GOP nomination today. The son and cousin of two past US presidents is hoping to separate his campaign from their instead famous family name. Sort of. (Image: Erik Schelzig/AP)
Jeb Bush joined the ever-expanding crowd of Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential election on Monday, having an statement at Miami-Dade College in the afternoon. But unlike many of the higher than a dozen applicants in the GOP field, Bush will be hoping to operate from a position of strength, as he shall be one associated with the favorites for the celebration’s nomination within the early going of this campaign.
‘ In any language my message is going to be an optimistic one, because I am certain that we can make the decades just ahead in the us the greatest time ever to be alive in this world,’ the latest Bush political dynasty candidate opined, using both English and Spanish to handle the live and truly massive TV audience.
Columba Bush, a first-generation immigrant that is mexican married Jeb 41 years back, could show critical in helping him reach Hispanic voters. (Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty)
Columba Bush, who is hitched towards the politician for 41 years and was initially from León, Guanajuato in Mexico, will certainly be an important force in a country grappling with immigration and dual-language problems on a basis that is almost daily.
In fact, the story goes that Mrs. Bush did not speak English when even she married Jeb back in 1974. Her mother ended up being reportedly a worker that is migrant food server.
Bush may need the help. Although the Florida that is former governor usually the first choice in national polls of Republican voters, though that advantage is very narrow. In fact, it may be much more accurate to view Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio as co-leaders as of this stage that is early.
Strong Establishment Candidate
That said, Bush has plenty of advantages that will make their campaign a strong one. For one, he will don’t have any difficulty money that is raising.
One super PAC that is supporting him had hoped to increase $100 million by the finish of June, and even though they will almost certainly come up short of this goal, it’s clear there’ll be lots of funding for the Bush war chest.
He’ll likewise have endorsements that are numerous Republican establishment figures, and a name that voters are familiar with, although his Jeb! 2016 slogan seems to indicate he is trying never to ride on at the very least the obvious of coattails. After all, that famous last name is a double-edged sword, dependent on which voters you are talking to.
While both his brother and father have previously served as president, Jeb Bush is attempting to avoid being seen merely once the next in line of succession, with a ‘royal’ aspect that numerous voters may maybe not be comfortable with.
Campaign Happens To Be Unofficial for Months
Of course, by any standard that is reasonable Bush’s campaign has been underway for months, but he has carefully skirted the line to avoid formally launching a campaign organization until now. Within the weekend, Bush told CNN that becoming an official candidate will enable him to better articulate their message to the American people.
‘I think this transition to a candidacy enables me to be more direct about my advocacy for the leadership abilities 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, we’ll offer up alternatives to the road we’re on also, therefore i will be more specific on policy.’
Historically Opposed to Gambling
It is uncertain whether we’ll get any information on Bush’s gaming policies, but his past stances on gambling issues while governor of Florida make it pretty clear he is no fan of casinos, as he strongly opposed gambling expansion within the state. Their stances on Internet gambling are less clear, though it is difficult to imagine he will be any friendlier to online poker and casino games than he was with their land-based counterparts.
Perhaps more importantly to his campaign, Bush may need to win over conservative voters who aren’t always on board together with his stances on immigration and training, both areas where their wife may become a campaign that is important. He also recently struggled with questions over how he’d have handled the war in Iraq, and fired his campaign manager week that is just last to squabbles inside their camp.
Nj-new Jersey Casinos See Online And Live Gains In May
The Golden Nugget has seen huge gains in its online gambling operations on the past year. (Image: GoldenNugget.com)
New Jersey’s online gambling market continues to grow, helping bolster the remaining eight gambling enterprises still running in Atlantic City.
But while the general numbers are positive, perhaps not all games and casinos are sharing equally in the fortune that is good.
In line with the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), on line gambling profits were as much as $12.47 million in May.
That represents an increase greater than 19 % over last May, when the sites brought in just $10.47 million.
Online Casinos Up, Poker Down
But that growth has been fueled very nearly entirely by online casinos. In comparison, online poker rooms are struggling. Internet poker brought in just under $1.93 million in might, down from $2.27 million in identical month last year.
That figure marks the second-lowest monthly revenue for on-line poker in New Jersey, with only last November trailing the most recent month.
Once accountable for a quarter or even more of on line gambling revenues in New Jersey, poker is now only about 15 per cent associated with market.
The 888/World Series of Poker partnership felt most of the damage on the poker side of things. The $831,799 they brought in through their Internet poker partnership was an all-time low, while their only competitor in the state, Borgata/partypoker, held fairly steady.
Holding constant ended up being a theme for the Borgata, as its general Internet revenues were down by about one percent as well.
Its still the market that is online, collecting about 32 percent of all of the revenues, but growth generally seems to have stalled: the business has yet to beat out its 2014 performance online in any thirty days this season.
On the other hand, a few businesses have observed their online offerings remove, none less than the Golden Nugget.
The casino has taken full advantage of the fact that BetfairCasino.com is now operating through them since the closure of this Trump Plaza, and it has ridden that new partnership to a clear place that is second hawaii’s iGaming landscape.
Real time Numbers Promising for Atlantic City
But while the figures that are online show a mix of ups and downs for Atlantic City’s casinos, the overall numbers for the industry were very encouraging in May. Overall, casinos won $208.6 million for the month, 5.3 per cent more than those exact same eight casinos took in a year ago.
To make sure, the overall cake is still smaller: in the event that you consist of three more casinos that were operating last might but have since closed, the revenues are down by about 9 per cent.
But with fewer gambling enterprises in the mix, the might revenues still represent a exceptional result for the casinos that are nevertheless in operation.
‘That’s a strong showing for what our detractors say is a weak market,’ stated brand New Jersey Casino Control Commission Chairman Matt Levinson. ‘Whether you look during the outcomes for the one thirty days or for the very first five months with this year, total video gaming income is up for the current operators. The size of industry might be smaller, but the wellness associated with current operators is getting stronger.’
The winner that is biggest ended up being Caesars, which saw its monthly revenues increase by 51 % over last might. That was largely as a result of month that is particularly unlucky high-stakes table games last year for Caesars.
Just two casinos were down year-over-year, such as the Borgata, which saw revenues fall by 4.7 % 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 process of being obtained by Carl Icahn.