Taj Mahal Lets Customers Know It's Staying Open
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Most of Atlantic City's casinos heralded the new year by announcing entertainment acts that would perform as the clock struck midnight.
But one is advertising the fact that it has survived 2014.
The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort recently got a pledge of $20 million from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to keep it open through the end of 2015. But months of news coverage of threats to close the casino by year's end had the Taj Mahal in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Casino owners Trump Entertainment Resorts launched a promotional campaign aimed at any lingering uncertainty. It includes billboards on highways leading into the resort, and a "We're Staying Open" sweepstakes in January in which $250,000 will be given away.
The casino is actively seeking new customers, and will give away $50 to $2,105 in bonus slot dollars to those who sign up for its players' club card.
Icahn plans to take over Trump Entertainment Resorts by canceling the $286 million of its debt that he owns.
The casino filed for bankruptcy in September, and its owners had threatened for months to close it by the end of the year if $175 million in city and state tax assistance could not be obtained. On Dec. 18, however, Icahn pledged the additional financing to keep the Taj Mahal open.
It still has not reached a deal with Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union. That impasse is holding back a package of tax-assistance bills that would benefit all eight of Atlantic City's casinos. The bills were due to be voted upon Dec. 18 but were pulled from consideration after an expected deal with the union fell apart.
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