Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair (both in Atlantic City), the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hotel in Gary, Indiana, Trump 29 in Coachella, California, and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. It was founded in 1995 as Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts by Donald Trump, who after 2004 held only a minority ownership. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, 2009 and 2014. It became a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises in 2016. Since then, all of the company's properties have been closed and sold.
History
The beginning
Donald Trump began purchasing properties along the Atlantic City boardwalk in the early 1980s and received a casino license from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (CCC) on March 15, 1982. He had planned to build his own casino on the boardwalk, but was stalled on the project when Mike Rose, then CEO of Holiday Inn and Harrah's approached him to manage construction of a Holiday Inn Casino-Hotel. It opened in May 1984 and two years later Trump bought out Holiday Inn's shares in the property and renamed it the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
In 1985, Trump purchased the nearly-complete Atlantic City Hilton hotel and casino property at the Atlantic marina from Hilton Hotels for $325 million. The hotel chain sold the property after its application for a gaming license was turned down by the CCC. Trump originally opened the property as Trump's Castle Hotel Casino, and later renamed it the Trump Marina.
In 1988, Trump purchased the unfinished Taj Mahal property from Resorts International for $230 million after negotiations with Merv Griffin in which the two men divided the assets of the failing company. The casino, at the time the largest in Atlantic City, would eventually cost almost $1 billion by the time it opened in 1990. Trump completed the project using junk bonds, a decision that hurt the company afterward as the gaming industry struggled in a recession and interest rates became unmanageable.
The company was shaken by the deaths of three key executives in an October 10, 1989 helicopter crash in northern New Jersey while they were returning from a New York press conference promoting an upcoming Atlantic City boxing event. The men were Steven F. Hyde, the CEO of Trump's casino operations, Mark Grossinger Etess, the president and chief operating officer of the Taj Mahal, and Trump Plaza executive vice president Jonathan Benanav.
In 1995, Trump established Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (THCR) as a publicly traded company, granting it ownership of the Trump Plaza and the under-development Trump Casino in Gary, Indiana. The following year, THCR bought the Trump Taj Mahal at a valuation of $890 million, and bought the Trump Castle from Trump for $486 million (including $355 million in assumed debt).
In 1996, the company opened Trump World's Fair, a casino adjunct to the Trump Plaza. The World's Fair was closed in 1999, with plans to replace it with a larger resort.
In 1997, THCR was one of eleven applicants for three casino licenses available in Detroit, with a $542-million proposal for the Trump Motor City Hotel Casino, in partnership with Mel Farr. The bid was ultimately dropped from consideration because of Mayor Dennis Archer's doubts about the company's financial condition.
In 1998, THCR business consultants spent at least $68,000 on a trip to Cuba in violation to the United States embargo against Cuba. According to a report by Newsweek, the consulting firm Seven Arrows Investment and Development instructed THCR on how to evade the embargo by linking the money to a charitable effort.
In 1999, THCR agreed to purchase the Flamingo Hilton Casino Kansas City for $15 million, but the deal fell through when Missouri gaming regulators did not approve the company's gaming license by a contractual deadline.
THCR entered a management agreement in 2000 to operate the Spotlight 29 Casino, an Indian casino in Coachella, California.
Financial troubles
Trump Entertainment Resorts and its predecessors have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection four times, in 1991, following construction of the $1-billion Trump Taj Mahal, and in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
In 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts explored various options for restructuring its debt, amid speculation that it might file for bankruptcy. A possible arrangement with Credit Suisse First Boston was not completed because the bondholders rejected it.