The situation of the Trump Taj Mahal seems hopeless after Atlantic City officials refused to reduce taxes in order to save the casino.

In May 1984, when Trump Plaza opened its doors to customers, it became Atlantic City’s 10th casino. The venue’s financial problems became evident this year, and by the middle of September owners were left with no other option but to close it.

The entire city is dealing with a huge budget deficit and several casinos have gone out of business this year, as the gambling Mecca is falling under the pressure of competition from neighboring states. In order to recover from the financial disaster, workers will be laid off and taxes on homes and businesses will be raised, as local authorities are planning to cut $40 million from the city’s budget over the next four years.

Out of the state’s 12 casinos, four have already closed. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort would be the fifth one, with Trump Entertainment threatening to shut it down mid-November. So far, all plans to save the venue have failed.

ABC News: AP: Mayor Nixes Tax Break to Save Taj Mahal Casino

According to the latest gambling news, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian has rejected a proposal to revive the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. The city cannot afford to meet the owners’ demands for reduced taxes, the mayor explained in an interview with the Associated Press.

In the proposal, the venue’s owners asked local authorities to reduce the tax assessments of Trump Plaza from $248 million to $40 million. The hotel and casino complex closed at the middle of September. In addition, the company asked for another reduction – from $1 billion to $300 million – for the Taj Mahal.

“Given the difficult economic situation in Atlantic City, we are not in a position to accept these requests,” Mayor Don Guardian told reporters. “We cannot afford those demands.”

With these plans being rejected, the city will most likely say “no” to another offer proposed by billionaire businessman Carl Icahn, leaving the struggling venue with no other options. The entrepreneur has promised to bail the casino out with a $100 million investment, but the project comes with strings attached.

Now it looks like Trump Entertainment could close the Taj Mahal at the middle of November.

CTV News: Billionaire may invest $100M save Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino

Billionaire businessman Carl Icahn is considering spending $100 million to save the now-bankrupt Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, but his offer comes with considerable strings attached. The investor said he will bail the venue out “if and only if” he gets givebacks from the workers’ union, $25 million in funds from an agency in New Jersey, and tax breaks regardless of the state’s current taxation and gambling laws.

At a recent appearance in bankruptcy court, Trump Entertainment Resorts presented a letter from the businessman’s lawyer, detailing his conditions for saving the casino and asking that the debt he owns in it be converted to equity that would give him ownership.

“Notwithstanding the fact that putting more money into the Taj is a questionable business decision, we share the company’s desire to see the Taj Mahal remain open and preserve the jobs of the company’s employees,” the attorney wrote, adding that failing to get the concessions “would make it impossible to operate a viable company at this time.”

The court filing paints a dismal picture of the casino’s current financial situation and argues there is no hope for survival without Icahn’s investment. Trump Entertainment said it was going to close the venue in November, leaving 2,041 full-time and 825 part-time employees without work.

Union president Bob McDevitt warned that the businessman is “seeking to take advantage of the Atlantic City crisis to do away with the health care thousands of south Jersey casino workers and their families have fought for and relied upon for over 30 years,” and added that his proposal aims to cut total compensation for workers.

Wall Street Journal: Trump Eyes Possible Return to Atlantic City

Billionaire Donald Trump is considering buying back two casinos in Atlantic City, both of them bearing his name, but still wants his name removed from the properties. The businessman hasn’t been involved in the management of either the Trump Taj Mahal, or the Trump Plaza for seven years now. Moreover, he told the Wall Street Journal that he disagrees with the way the venues are being run.

“We have a very high standard” in the licensing contract, he told reporters, “and they don’t operate it to our standards.”

“I’d fix them and bring them back to a very high standard,” Trump said. While acknowledging that Atlantic is in a “very difficult place”, he added: “I think a smaller Atlantic City maybe has a chance.”

Trump’s lawyers argued in court that the licensing contract requires operators to maintain “the highest levels of quality, luxury, prestige, and success,” which the plaintiff believes were not met. Inspectors of Trump AC have found a “serious deficiency in quality” and demanded that they be fixed. The casinos responded, claiming they had a plan to address the “deplorable conditions” at the Plaza, but further notices culminated in a lawsuit where Trump asked for his name to be removed from the business.

The casinos were originally developed by Trump and have come close to bankruptcy before. The real-estate mogul is no longer involved in the management of these casinos, but still owns 5% of Trump Entertainment.

The situation of the Trump Taj Mahal seems hopeless after Atlantic City officials refused to reduce taxes in order to save the casino.

In May 1984, when Trump Plaza opened its doors to customers, it became Atlantic City’s 10th casino. The venue’s financial problems became evident this year, and by the middle of September owners were left with no other option but to close it.

The entire city is dealing with a huge budget deficit and several casinos have gone out of business this year, as the gambling Mecca is falling under the pressure of competition from neighboring states. In order to recover from the financial disaster, workers will be laid off and taxes on homes and businesses will be raised, as local authorities are planning to cut $40 million from the city’s budget over the next four years.

Out of the state’s 12 casinos, four have already closed. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort would be the fifth one, with Trump Entertainment threatening to shut it down mid-November. So far, all plans to save the venue have failed.

ABC News: AP: Mayor Nixes Tax Break to Save Taj Mahal Casino

According to the latest gambling news, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian has rejected a proposal to revive the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. The city cannot afford to meet the owners’ demands for reduced taxes, the mayor explained in an interview with the Associated Press.

In the proposal, the venue’s owners asked local authorities to reduce the tax assessments of Trump Plaza from $248 million to $40 million. The hotel and casino complex closed at the middle of September. In addition, the company asked for another reduction – from $1 billion to $300 million – for the Taj Mahal.

“Given the difficult economic situation in Atlantic City, we are not in a position to accept these requests,” Mayor Don Guardian told reporters. “We cannot afford those demands.”

With these plans being rejected, the city will most likely say “no” to another offer proposed by billionaire businessman Carl Icahn, leaving the struggling venue with no other options. The entrepreneur has promised to bail the casino out with a $100 million investment, but the project comes with strings attached.

Now it looks like Trump Entertainment could close the Taj Mahal at the middle of November.

CTV News: Billionaire may invest $100M save Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino

Billionaire businessman Carl Icahn is considering spending $100 million to save the now-bankrupt Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, but his offer comes with considerable strings attached. The investor said he will bail the venue out “if and only if” he gets givebacks from the workers’ union, $25 million in funds from an agency in New Jersey, and tax breaks regardless of the state’s current taxation and gambling laws.

At a recent appearance in bankruptcy court, Trump Entertainment Resorts presented a letter from the businessman’s lawyer, detailing his conditions for saving the casino and asking that the debt he owns in it be converted to equity that would give him ownership.

“Notwithstanding the fact that putting more money into the Taj is a questionable business decision, we share the company’s desire to see the Taj Mahal remain open and preserve the jobs of the company’s employees,” the attorney wrote, adding that failing to get the concessions “would make it impossible to operate a viable company at this time.”

The court filing paints a dismal picture of the casino’s current financial situation and argues there is no hope for survival without Icahn’s investment. Trump Entertainment said it was going to close the venue in November, leaving 2,041 full-time and 825 part-time employees without work.

Union president Bob McDevitt warned that the businessman is “seeking to take advantage of the Atlantic City crisis to do away with the health care thousands of south Jersey casino workers and their families have fought for and relied upon for over 30 years,” and added that his proposal aims to cut total compensation for workers.

Wall Street Journal: Trump Eyes Possible Return to Atlantic City

Billionaire Donald Trump is considering buying back two casinos in Atlantic City, both of them bearing his name, but still wants his name removed from the properties. The businessman hasn’t been involved in the management of either the Trump Taj Mahal, or the Trump Plaza for seven years now. Moreover, he told the Wall Street Journal that he disagrees with the way the venues are being run.

“We have a very high standard” in the licensing contract, he told reporters, “and they don’t operate it to our standards.”

“I’d fix them and bring them back to a very high standard,” Trump said. While acknowledging that Atlantic is in a “very difficult place”, he added: “I think a smaller Atlantic City maybe has a chance.”

Trump’s lawyers argued in court that the licensing contract requires operators to maintain “the highest levels of quality, luxury, prestige, and success,” which the plaintiff believes were not met. Inspectors of Trump AC have found a “serious deficiency in quality” and demanded that they be fixed. The casinos responded, claiming they had a plan to address the “deplorable conditions” at the Plaza, but further notices culminated in a lawsuit where Trump asked for his name to be removed from the business.

The casinos were originally developed by Trump and have come close to bankruptcy before. The real-estate mogul is no longer involved in the management of these casinos, but still owns 5% of Trump Entertainment.

Japan is getting closer and closer to that critical point where casino developers will lose their patience and turn their backs on any investment opportunity in the country.

Since experts estimated that Japan has the potential to become Asia’s second largest casino market, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has been pushing for a change in Japanese gambling laws to open the door to major casino developers before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. With the way things are going, it looks like the big dream is not going to happen anytime soon.

For Japan, it’s not a matter of “sooner or later”. If investors don’t have sufficient time to make their plans, obtain approval and start building, the effort will not be worth it. Having a favorable regulatory system as soon as possible was crucial for the success of the country’s gambling market. It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that everything will be ready in time for the Olympics.

Reuters: Costs, politics erode chances for a Tokyo casino by 2020

Japanese casino supporters are starting to panic as plans to change the country’s gambling legislation don’t seem to be coming together. As time passes and authorities are still undecided whether to approve the new casino bill, plans to open the first casino in Tokyo before the 2020 Olympics are becoming increasingly unlikely.

Even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stated that legalizing casino games is one of his main objectives, recent gambling news say building costs are skyrocketing, and the city government is not treating casino development as an economic priority anymore.

For months, casino companies have courted the governments of Tokyo and Osaka, hoping that they will convince them to open the market. Analysts have touted Japan as one of the world’s biggest untapped markets for gambling, but authorities are still undecided.

Major casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Genting Singapore, MGM Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment have proposed billion-dollar plans for the area, in order to position themselves as potential candidates for a license, should the casino bill be approved.

The parliament just began its autumn session, and the casino bill should be debated. Supporters of the idea are hoping that politicians will make a decision, giving the administration enough time to approve the bill and start making plans by 2015. But costs have become an issue and the Tokyo government is considering scaling back its plans for the Olympics.

Satoshi Okabe, a senior manager at a project being developed by Dentsu, said: “The reality is that preparations for the Olympics are going to be pretty challenging. Casinos are secondary. Building costs are going to spike and foreign casino operators are going to find investment returns inefficient.”

Meanwhile, Osaka is making progress with its plans for a casino and Caesars Entertainment is still interested. “We are actively in talks with potential Japanese partners about an Osaka project,” said Steve Tight, president for international development for Caesars.

Forbes: Japan Forms Casino Task Force To Boost Flagging Momentum

At the end of August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government announced that it was going to create a task force help speed up preparations for casinos in Japan. Decision-makers have postponed the issue for a while now, but the Abe administration is hoping the task force will revive momentum for the resorts to be open in time for the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

Some major gaming companies said they were willing to spend as much as $5 billion or more to build integrated resorts in the country’s largest cities, but financial experts doubt that the Japanese market is worth that level of investment.

The casino legalization bill was introduced in December 2013, but the Diet didn’t include it in its June voting session. The issue was brought up for debate just a few days before the session closed, so there is still hope that it might come up again during the special session held in autumn.

A report released by Morgan Stanley says Japan is facing many issues in its ambitions to build integrated casino resorts. Analysts Praveen Choudhary, Thomas Allen and Alex Poon have concluded that the country’s gambling market may not be as profitable as casino developers are hoping.

GamingZion: Major Casino Developers Eager to Join the $40 Billion Japanese Casino Market

Experts agree that a casino industry in Japan could potentially generate a yearly profit of $40 billion. The news has convinced the world’s largest casino developers that they must have a share of that juicy revenue, so developers like Melco Crown Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Caesar’s Entertainment Group have all pledged to invest billions of dollars.

Melco CEO Lawrence Ho said the company was willing to spend as much as $5 billion on a new investment in Japan, should the new law pass. The developer sees it as the perfect opportunity to expand outside of Macau.

Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM are also interested in the Japanese casino market, and Caesars Entertainment has already presented its plans for a $5 billion resort, as Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman said the company “will have no trouble raising the finance for a world-class facility in Tokyo.”

Japan is getting closer and closer to that critical point where casino developers will lose their patience and turn their backs on any investment opportunity in the country.

Since experts estimated that Japan has the potential to become Asia’s second largest casino market, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has been pushing for a change in Japanese gambling laws to open the door to major casino developers before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. With the way things are going, it looks like the big dream is not going to happen anytime soon.

For Japan, it’s not a matter of “sooner or later”. If investors don’t have sufficient time to make their plans, obtain approval and start building, the effort will not be worth it. Having a favorable regulatory system as soon as possible was crucial for the success of the country’s gambling market. It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that everything will be ready in time for the Olympics.

Reuters: Costs, politics erode chances for a Tokyo casino by 2020

Japanese casino supporters are starting to panic as plans to change the country’s gambling legislation don’t seem to be coming together. As time passes and authorities are still undecided whether to approve the new casino bill, plans to open the first casino in Tokyo before the 2020 Olympics are becoming increasingly unlikely.

Even though Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stated that legalizing casino games is one of his main objectives, recent gambling news say building costs are skyrocketing, and the city government is not treating casino development as an economic priority anymore.

For months, casino companies have courted the governments of Tokyo and Osaka, hoping that they will convince them to open the market. Analysts have touted Japan as one of the world’s biggest untapped markets for gambling, but authorities are still undecided.

Major casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Genting Singapore, MGM Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment have proposed billion-dollar plans for the area, in order to position themselves as potential candidates for a license, should the casino bill be approved.

The parliament just began its autumn session, and the casino bill should be debated. Supporters of the idea are hoping that politicians will make a decision, giving the administration enough time to approve the bill and start making plans by 2015. But costs have become an issue and the Tokyo government is considering scaling back its plans for the Olympics.

Satoshi Okabe, a senior manager at a project being developed by Dentsu, said: “The reality is that preparations for the Olympics are going to be pretty challenging. Casinos are secondary. Building costs are going to spike and foreign casino operators are going to find investment returns inefficient.”

Meanwhile, Osaka is making progress with its plans for a casino and Caesars Entertainment is still interested. “We are actively in talks with potential Japanese partners about an Osaka project,” said Steve Tight, president for international development for Caesars.

Forbes: Japan Forms Casino Task Force To Boost Flagging Momentum

At the end of August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government announced that it was going to create a task force help speed up preparations for casinos in Japan. Decision-makers have postponed the issue for a while now, but the Abe administration is hoping the task force will revive momentum for the resorts to be open in time for the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

Some major gaming companies said they were willing to spend as much as $5 billion or more to build integrated resorts in the country’s largest cities, but financial experts doubt that the Japanese market is worth that level of investment.

The casino legalization bill was introduced in December 2013, but the Diet didn’t include it in its June voting session. The issue was brought up for debate just a few days before the session closed, so there is still hope that it might come up again during the special session held in autumn.

A report released by Morgan Stanley says Japan is facing many issues in its ambitions to build integrated casino resorts. Analysts Praveen Choudhary, Thomas Allen and Alex Poon have concluded that the country’s gambling market may not be as profitable as casino developers are hoping.

GamingZion: Major Casino Developers Eager to Join the $40 Billion Japanese Casino Market

Experts agree that a casino industry in Japan could potentially generate a yearly profit of $40 billion. The news has convinced the world’s largest casino developers that they must have a share of that juicy revenue, so developers like Melco Crown Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts and Caesar’s Entertainment Group have all pledged to invest billions of dollars.

Melco CEO Lawrence Ho said the company was willing to spend as much as $5 billion on a new investment in Japan, should the new law pass. The developer sees it as the perfect opportunity to expand outside of Macau.

Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM are also interested in the Japanese casino market, and Caesars Entertainment has already presented its plans for a $5 billion resort, as Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman said the company “will have no trouble raising the finance for a world-class facility in Tokyo.”