{"id":15128,"date":"2014-12-02T13:11:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T21:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15128"},"modified":"2021-06-17T06:04:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T14:04:37","slug":"death-throes-at-trump-taj-casino-clash-in-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/death-throes-at-trump-taj-casino-clash-in-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"Death throes at Trump Taj; Casino clash in Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"trump-taj<\/a>Even with a $5 million cash infusion from rich uncle Carl Icahn<\/strong>, that didn’t stop Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> from going into Death Spiral Mode. Its greatest asset, its new(ish) hotel tower, has been closed and the casino will no longer issue you credit. Already Trump Entertainment Resorts<\/strong> has petitioned<\/a> the State of New Jersey<\/strong> for permission to shut down\u00a0altogether. It’s not clear whether these or serious measures or more scare tactics from upper management, to try and bring Local 54<\/strong> of Unite-Here<\/strong> into line. Judging from the string of melodramatic pronouncements<\/a> made by Trump CEO Robert Griffin<\/strong>, I’m going with Door #2.<\/p>\n

* Research done by Maine<\/strong>‘s\u00a0Legislature\u2019s Veterans &\u00a0Legal Affairs Committee<\/strong> shows that the state could sustain two additional casinos, at the extreme northern and southern ends of the state. But \"LePage\"<\/a>Casinos Nos. 3 and 4 would probably have to go through the ballot box to come into being. Lawmakers have a long tradition of showing very little stomach for casino expansion in Maine. Five such bills were defeated earlier this year. The WhiteSand Gaming<\/strong> study commissioned by lawmakers recommends a competitive-bid process and concedes that some cannibalization of casino revenue would occur in a three- or four-casino setup — as much as 20% at Oxford Casino<\/strong>. Taxes and licensing fees would also probably have to be standardized throughout the industry before the Lege is ready to deal.<\/p>\n

(“Both the state\u2019s casinos operate under separate tax and fee structures, and revenue generated for the state flows to a variety of different entities, but not always the same entities,” explains the Bangor Daily News<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Propping up Maine’s harness-racing industry was once the pretext for casino expansion but voters and legislators alike nixed a proposal for a new track in the southern part of \"Russell\"<\/a>the state (where WhiteSand recommends a new casino go). As state Rep. Diane Russell<\/strong> (D) said, “if there\u2019s no requirement for a harness-racing track in southern Maine, then there\u2019s really no reason to introduce a casino in southern Maine. The only reason we are even considering this is because the direct impact onto the harness-racing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bingo halls, which report a decline in play, are also set against casino growth. Bangor’s Hollywood Casino<\/strong> is being blamed for declines in the Penobscot Nation<\/strong>‘s bingo haul. For this reason, state Rep. Wayne Mitchell<\/strong> (D) doesn’t want to see any gambling growth\u00a0that doesn’t include the state’s Indian tribes in the mix. “Mitchell said the loss of revenue has cost his tribe important programs, including education and youth leadership development programs.” He also said he was disgusted with a WhiteSand recommendation for 30-mile exclusivity zones around existing casinos.<\/p>\n

But, with Maine Gov. Paul LePage<\/strong>\u00a0(R) favoring casino expansion only by popular vote, the Legislature is probably just wasting its breath.<\/p>\n

* A surprisingly large number of International Game Technology<\/strong> and GTECH<\/strong> shareholders declared themselves to be dissenters<\/a> to GTECH’s takeover of IGT. The number, in the neighborhood of 20%, wasn’t enough to endanger the deal but they enjoyed the option of being\u00a0bought out. That being done, the merger will duly close.<\/p>\n

\"Lawrence<\/a>* Lawrence Ho<\/strong> has decided to have a three-month soft opening of City of Dreams Manila<\/strong>. The last casino that went that route was Revel<\/strong>, so we question the wisdom of dribbling the product out onto the market in this fashion but acknowledge that Lawrence Ho has always seemed to know exactly what he’s doing.\u00a0In deference to Philippine law, Ho’s Melco Crown Resorts<\/strong> gets to keep all non-gaming revenue but must split the casino take<\/a> with his mandatory, local joint-venture partners.\u00a0Newly interested in the Philippines<\/strong>, American operators will surely be keeping a close eye on City of Dreams’ performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even with a $5 million cash infusion from rich uncle Carl Icahn, that didn’t stop Trump Taj Mahal from going into Death Spiral Mode. Its greatest asset, its new(ish) hotel tower, has been closed and the casino will no longer … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,183,67,29,22,94,147,93,69,33,20,169],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15128"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29724,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128\/revisions\/29724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}