Trump Taj Mahal Online Gambling
Trump Taj Mahal was among the first Atlantic City casinos to obtain an online gambling operators license. Through a partnership with Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Las Vegas’ Station Casinos, Trump Taj Mahal launched Ultimate Casino in November 2013.
Long before he became President of the United States, Donald Trump was a real estate developer and Atlantic City casino mogul, which certainly qualifies him to be considered one of New Jersey’s Most Notorious Gamblers.
Trump’s Atlantic City Start
New Jersey voters supported a referendum to legalize casinos in Atlantic City in 1976 and by the beginning of the 1980s, casino construction was booming.
Trump wanted in, and after buying up land near the end of the Atlantic City Expressway with plans to build his own casino, in 1982 he got a license to open up shop. He struck a partnership with Harrah’s, the gambling arm of hotel giant Holiday Inn, to operate the facility after he completed construction.
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In 1984, the $210-million 39-story Harrah’s at Trump Plaza opened its doors. At the time it was the biggest casino in Atlantic City history.
In 1985, competing hotel giant Hilton was finishing up construction of its own $320 million casino nearby. However, the New Jersey Casino Commission voted to deny Hilton a casino license, claiming people connected to the organization had associated with organized crime figures in the past.
Trump covered the cost of construction and bought the property from Hilton, opening it up as Trump Castle in June of that year.
Fallout with Harrah’s
Trumps problems with Harrah’s didn’t start there, but they rose to unworkable levels. He had built Trump Plaza to attract big time gamblers and the Harrah’s name did the opposite. They had been at odds since opening and when Harrah’s called his new interest in Trump Castle a conflict of interest, he simply bought them out and waved goodbye.
Harrah’s actually went as far as filing a lawsuit, but when Trump paid them $223 million to walk away from their share of the property, they took it. In 1986, Harrah’s at Trump Plaza became just Trump Plaza.
Taking Over Atlantic City
Trump quickly became Atlantic City’s biggest promoter and his casinos were the biggest beneficiary of that, leading the growing industry with revenues soaring into the hundreds of millions.
He helped bring championship boxing and wrestling matches to the city, with Mike Tyson and the World Wrestling Federation becoming regular visitors.
In 1989, Trump bought the bankrupt Atlantis Hotel and Casino for $63 million and renamed it Trump Regency before setting his sites on something even bigger.
Is Trump Taj Mahal Open
Resorts International had built Atlantic City’s first legal casino in 1978 and was in the middle of construction on a property next door, expected to become the biggest casino in the world when it was completed. Resorts was calling it the Taj Mahal and had already poured closed to $500 million into the project when they reportedly ran out of money.
Trump made a play at buying a controlling interest in the company and what followed was a very public battle with TV host Merv Griffin for control of Resorts and the Taj Mahal. When the dust settled, Griffin got Resorts and Trump the Taj.
Trump finished construction at a cost of almost $1 billion, financed through the sale of junk bonds, and the renamed Trump Taj Mahal opened in 1990. As promised, it was the biggest casino in the world, but for Trump, and his reign as an Atlantic City casino mogul, its opening was the peak at the beginning of a very large downfall.
The Fall, the Bankruptcies and the Exit
A little over a year later, with construction contractors claiming they still hadn’t been paid, the property filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As quickly as he’d gained it, Trump lost half of his interest in the Taj.
Within the next 12 months, Trump Plaza and Trump Castle both filed for Chapter 11 as well. By 1995, Trump’s casinos were all consolidated into a publicly traded company called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.
Trump was still at the helm of the company when mortgage holder Chemical Bank took ownership of Trump Regency. Trump bought it back in 1995 and reopened it a year later as Trump World’s Fair at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. It closed permanently in 1999 and was torn down a year later.
In 1997, they changed the name of Trump Castle to Trump Marina, but financial problems with the company persisted. In 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts filed for Chapter 11 and reemerged as the renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts.
Trump Entertainment Resorts itself filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and Trump resigned as chairman, retaining a 10 percent ownership stake in the company and allowing the company to continue to use his name.
Two years later, Trump Marina was sold and reopened as the Golden Nugget and within three years, Trump was no longer invested in Trump Entertainment Resorts.
Trump Plaza closed in September 2014 and the Taj was bought out by Carl Icahn. It closed while mired in a labor dispute last year.
Although signs can be seen on the top of the Taj, no operating casino in Atlantic City still bears the Trump name. However, Trump’s rise as an Atlantic City casino mogul, and subsequent fall, will ensure he’s always remembered as one of New Jersey’s most notorious gamblers.
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NOTICE: As of September 2014 Trump Taj Mahal online casino is no longer accepting players.
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Trump Taj Mahal online
Much like Trump Plaza, the Trump Taj Mahal was among the first Atlantic City casinos to obtain an online gambling license and was initially immensely successful, securing a nearly 10% market share.
However, as the time passed the traffic decreased. February 2014 was a particularly bad month, as the revenue dropped to about $587,000 – a massive 46% decrease when compared with January. As a result, the Trump Taj Mahal was unable to challenge Borgata’s domination and ended up earning as much money as one of Caesars Entertainment’s online projects for the same market.
Trump Taj Mahal casino software
The online version of Trump Taj Mahal was available at uCasino.com and is powered by Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos that made history as the first company to offer legal online poker in the United States.
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Created by specialists with over 30 years of experience under their belt, the Trump Taj Mahal Ultimate Casino gave players access to cutting-edge slots, video poker games and table games, as well as Ultimate Gaming’s unique brand of online poker.
Unfortunately, the number of titles ended up being rather rather limited, particularly when it comes to slots. On the bright side, the Ultimate Casino table games section was well developed and included all the popular casino classics like blackjack, roulette or three card poker, as well as modern titles like Let It Ride, Raise It Up or Fortune Pai Gow Poker.
Trump Taj Mahal land-based casino in Atlantic City
The Trump Taj Mahal was opened in April 1990 and is one of the two Atlantic City casino hotels owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts.
Often referred to as Taj or Tramp Taj by the locals, the casino sports a unique Indian theme and is the second-largest resort of this kind in the entire New Jersey area. The casino cost about one billion dollars to build and boasts over 167,000 square feet of gaming space. The Trump Taj Mahal remained the most popular and highest grossing casino in Atlantic City until 2003, when the Borgata became available to the general public.
The resort underwent major renovation in 2008, when the Chairman Tower was opened to new customers, bringing the total number of rooms up to 2,248. The poker room and the casino floor of Tramp Taj were featured in a cult 1998 poker movie “Rounders,” which made it even more popular among the American Texas Hold’em enthusiasts at the time.
Trump Taj Mahal Today
The modern history of the Taj appears to have drawn to an end with the announcement in August 2016 that the property was set to close.