If you work at Trump Taj Mahal, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the casino now stands a better chance of weathering a November 
financial crisis, preserving your job. The bad news is you just lost your pension and health benefits. (And your paid meal breaks.) The Taj will be allowed to void its contract, ruled Judge Kevin Gross, making the casino a more appealing rescue vehicle for leading creditor Carl Icahn, now that worker compensation has been cut by 35%. “We are proud of our efforts to keep the Taj Mahal open, to deliver our loyal customers a continued first-class gaming experience and to have the ability to save 3,000 jobs in a very difficult Atlantic City economy,” said Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO “Bedsprings Bob” Griffin. Needless to say, those sentiments were not shared by Unite-Here President Robert McDevitt, who promised picketing by the end of the week. Lamented waitress Valerie McMorris, a 24-year veteran of the casino, “With the stroke of a pen we’ve gone from middle-class jobs in this city to working poor.”
Voiding the union contract was the easy part. Now the Taj has to persuade the
state with hundreds of millions in aid, partly from its Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program, and partly from two programs for which casinos are ineligible, Economic Redevelopment Grants and the Urban Revitalization Grants. I don’t know if the state had a good reason or not for redlining casinos from access to those two funds but if even one casino is allowed to tap them it’s going to be Katie bar the door. Perhaps state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) was anticipating when he said he “won’t allow state or any other public funds or subsidies to be used to support this plan.”
McDevitt grumbled of Icahn, “He has a long history of eliminating, reducing or freezing worker benefits which sometimes saddles government agencies with the 
burden of cleaning up the mess.” Warning that it would be open season on union contracts in Atlantic City were Icahn allowed to prevail, McDevitt growled, “If I gotta take it to the [Tropicana Atlantic City], I’ll take it to the Trop,” to which Icahn sniped in return, “Well that means he wants to close up two casinos instead of one. He’s really out there doing his union membership a great favor … We saved Tropicana when everybody gave up on it.” McDevitt ran one ownership group out of the Trop. Is he going to go for two?
* In a busy weekend, losing Revel bidder Glenn Straub filed an appeal of the defunct resort’s sale to Brookfield Asset Management. Straub is contesting the way the bankruptcy auction was handled, complaining that he wasn’t kept in the loop about competing offers.
* After keeping legislators in suspense, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill permitting unregulated sports betting in the state. Monmouth Park 
racetrack plans to be first into action, having set a date of Oct. 26 to begin taking wagers. Now it’s a question of how quickly the major sporting leagues can enjoin the track from putting that plan into action. “[T]he Republican governor’s administration seized upon language in the appellate judge’s ruling saying that nothing prevents New Jersey from stripping state laws banning betting and allowing private companies to set up sports wagering operations without state regulation. That’s what the new law allows for.”
Added state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D), the major leagues and NCAA “would have to prove harm but there’s already sports betting going on in Las Vegas. So where’s the damage?”Here’s how New Jersey’s version works.
Christie’s vacillations on the sports-betting issue are chalked up to a mix of presidential aspirations and the need to deal with a sudden collapse in the Atlantic City economy. The state is urging parimutuels to wait out the court process. But for some, enough delay is enough. Said Monmouth Park attorney Dennis Drazin, “We’re going to start taking bets on the 26th and if someone tries to stop us they’re going to need an order from the judge.”
Bill co-sponsor Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D, right) predicts the will be the much-longed-for bonanza for Atlantic City, filling hotel rooms by the thousands when major sports events draw nigh. “Atlantic City needs this desperately … They wouldn’t even have to market it.”
From your mouth to God’s ear, assemblyman.
