The CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts has issued a public plea for investor Carl Icahn (pictured, on the left) to keep Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino open past its scheduled Dec. 20 shutdown. On Tuesday, Trump CEO Robert Griffin (pictured right) told the Associated Press he’d sent a letter asking the billionaire to ignore the fact that Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union had ignored Icahn’s Monday deadline for dropping their appeal of a court order voiding the unionized workers’ contract.
Doing his best Princess Leia, Griffin told Obi-Icahn he represented the casino’s “last hope” after “the state, city and the union have all abandoned us.” Griffin wants Icahn to “consider agreeing to fund operations at the Taj through the duration of the appeal process,” a fight in which Griffin is convinced Trump will prevail. Should Icahn respond favorably to Griffin’s plea, the Taj could remain open into the second quarter of 2015.
The Taj reported brick-and-mortar gaming revenue of $14.7m in November, down 19.8% from the same month last year. That was good enough for seventh place among AC’s eight surviving casinos. All told, the elite eight’s brick-and-mortar operations earned $193.8m in November, up 7.2% from what these same eight earned the year before. Add in the $8.7m of online gambling revenue and the yearly gain rises to 11.5%.
Stripping aside online contributions, the Borgata continued to dominate the land-based gaming revenue chart, rising 9.9% to $55.8m. Harrah’s was well back with $31m (+2.8%), while Caesars ranked third with $25.m (+4.8%). The Tropicana rose 13.4% to $20.9m while the Golden Nugget surged 63.3% to $16.3m and Resorts rose 16.2% to $12m. Bally’s was the month’s only other casino in negative territory, falling 5% to $17.3m.
On Tuesday, Fitch Ratings issued a report saying it expected AC’s annual revenue to contract 8% in 2014. Fitch expects a further 6% contraction in 2015 to $2.5b in annual revenue, less than half its 2006 peak of $5.2b. Assuming the Taj remains open, Fitch expects the eight casinos to capture around 60% of the revenue previously earned by the four shuttered casinos. If the Taj closes, Fitch expects 2015 revenue will come in between $2.3b and $2.4b. With increased competition looming in regional states like Massachusetts and New York, Fitch says AC’s annual revenue could eventually “migrate” toward $2b.
