Trump Taj Mahal Atlantic City Shutdown Moving Ahead

The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City has started the entire process of shutting down, starting with the closing of one casino tower.
The Trump Taj Mahal has entered early phases of the shutdown, even as the Atlantic City resort continues to talk to union representatives and state officials about deals the property’s owners say could save the casino.
Trump Entertainment filed a petition week that is last for authorization to formally close the casino on the scheduled December 12 date that has been floated for some time now, and actions working towards that closing begun to take spot on Monday this week.
The signs that are first the resort could possibly be headed for a shutdown began on Monday, once the Chairman Tower associated with the hotel was closed. The Chairman is the newer for the two hotel towers at the resort. In addition, the casino has stopped credit that is issuing customers, though gambling and hotel services are otherwise uninterrupted for enough time being.
Concessions Desired from Government, Unions
Trump Entertainment Resorts has said that ladbrokes casino bonus the casino could remain open through a transfer of ownership to investor Carl Icahn. Nevertheless, both the business and Icahn have stated that this could only take place should they could get tax breaks from Atlantic City and the state of New Jersey, and when they could get concessions from the labor union that represents employees during the casino.
Neither the government nor the union has shown much of an aspire to surrender to these demands. However, talks have actually been ongoing and there may be some indications of movement in the last few days, that could offer at minimum a glimmer that is small of to those who want to see the Taj Mahal stay in company.
Local 54 of the UNITE-HERE union, which represents about 2,700 workers at the resort, is appealing a bankruptcy court decision that would break the present agreement between the union and Trump Entertainment, which would in change let the company to end payments to the union health fund and retirement plans.
Icahn has now publicly stated he would be willing to accept restore those health advantages for at the least two years and create a new pension plan for workers, but only if they in change will drop their appeal of the bankruptcy court ruling. The union has yet to comment on whether or not they would accept such a deal.
New Legislation Could Provide Tax Relief
Meanwhile, a new little bit of legislation introduced on Tuesday by State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3rd District) and State Senator James Whelan (D-2nd District) would provide a number of the tax relief that Icahn and Trump Entertainment have now been lobbying for. The new bill would allow Atlantic City’s gambling enterprises to pay for $150 million in lieu of their normal tax payments within the next two years, while additionally redirecting money originally created for redevelopment jobs to help pay down Atlantic City’s debt.
While the tax relief has some features in common with exactly what the Taj Mahal was asking for from the state, Trump Entertainment CEO Robert Griffin would only say that ‘ we are going to see’ if the bill is enough to keep the Taj Mahal open.
The bill would also help secure some of the demands being produced by casino worker unions by mandating minimum health insurance coverage and retirement packages for casino employees.
‘My plan is designed to protect Atlantic City from bankruptcy and position the city for future growth that is economic’ Sweeney stated.
Four gambling enterprises have already closed in Atlantic City this if the Trump Taj Mahal were to close, only seven would remain in the city year.
Yahoo Poker Coming Off US Market Amid Classic Game Elimination
Yahoo will remove poker and other games from its online collection on December 31. (Image: Yahoo.com)
Yahoo Poker will be taken off the market by the end of the year, as Yahoo has announced they are eliminating a number of the older games at that time. The move comes not long following a marketing that is strong for the overall game, one that prompted speculation that the Internet company might be looking to enter the world of a real income online gambling.
‘As of December 31st, 2014, Yahoo Games will no longer offer the Yahoo Classic Games including Yahoo Poker, Yahoo Pool and Yahoo Bingo on web or mobile products,’ read a statement on the yahoo Poker page that is main. The info also reappeared in a pop-up message for players as soon as the game loaded.
Marketing Push Suggested Big Plans for Poker
Yahoo Poker has existed in various forms for many years, dating back to at least the late 1990s. However, the site just recently started getting a noticeable marketing push that made some wonder in the event that company had larger plans because of its Texas hold em game. The same demographic often targeted for online poker in November, ads for the game started showing up on Yahoo’s fantasy football web pages, which is some of the company’s most valuable ad space for attracting young male consumers.
This version of Yahoo Poker shared much more in common having a game that is social any genuine money poker site, however. Players could purchase additional potato chips and a handful of other perks in the game, but there were no prizes and no games were actually played for money. But at least one analyst saw the advertising push being a sign that Yahoo might be looking to do more into the poker globe.
‘The new Yahoo Texas Hold’em portal could be effortlessly monetized if the environment that is legal to become more favorable,’ wrote Marc Edelman, an associate at work Professor of Law at the City University of the latest York’s Baruch College, in a piece for Forbes. ‘It seems for the present time that Yahoo is certainly preparing beforehand for the potential time of widespread, appropriate online poker.’
That analysis may happen a bit positive, as Yahoo has made no indication that they truly are moving towards providing real money online poker or gambling anywhere in the world. However it established speculation throughout the poker community, with some players saying they’d welcome a new heavyweight in the planet of Web gambling.
Yahoo Poker Could Return in New Form
The announced shutdown, nonetheless, should end such conjecture, at least for the time being. According to Yahoo, the move ended up being made because many of their games that are classic now outdated. These games are now ‘incompatible, insecure with no longer functioning correctly. since the company’s web sites now have higher security needs and utilize new supporting technologies’
Forbes also quoted an email by Yahoo Games PR Manager Sean Hamel, which said that the main reason the games were being dropped was ‘to streamline our product offerings and focus our energy and resources on developing for Yahoo’s core experiences.’
For many who will miss Yahoo’s poker game, there may be hope into the future. While no details are yet available, Yahoo has said that new games will be launched which may better meet their security and software demands. It’s likely that these games will mostly undertake the modern ‘free-to-play’ format that permits players buying in-game perks for real money, a model known well to players of games like Farmville and Candy Crush.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto Wants California On-line Poker Bill Passage in 2015
California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, sponsor of Bill AB 9, that will be yet another attempt to legalize poker that is online the Golden State. (Image: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)
A brand new bill that seeks to legalize California on-line poker in 2015 has been introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto this week. Bill AB 9, dubbed the ‘Internet Poker Consumer Protection Act of 2015,’ aims to establish a regulatory framework that would enable the offering of online poker for players located physically within hawaii’s borders.
If passed, it would allow games to be ready to go within 180 days.
‘California has led the world in computer and Internet innovation, and there’s no justification why we can not carry on to lead having a sensible online-poker framework,’ announced Gatto. ‘AB 9 borrows from time-tested business practices that may improve our government funds and keep our money within our home state.’
The bill adopts a lot of the language used by previously proposed legislation that have to date foundered in California.
It limits potential licensees to existing tribal operators and cardrooms, and pledges become tough on ‘bad actors,’ outlining the unwanted status of ‘any brand or business name, including any brand that is derivative with the same or similar wording, or any trade or service mark, software, technology, operational system, consumer information, or other data acquired, derived, or developed directly or indirectly from, or associated with, any procedure that has accepted a bet or engaged in a monetary transaction related to that bet from any person within the United States on any style of Internet gaming after December 31, 2006.’
Door Slightly Ajar
This language appears to preclude PokerStars’ entry to your market, nevertheless the bill also includes a clause stating that regulators will have the ability to waive the use of the above paragraph provided that an operator’s ‘use of the covered assets associated with intrastate Web gaming will not adversely affect the integrity of, or undermine public confidence in, intrastate Internet poker or else pose a threat to the public interest or to the effective regulation and control of intrastate Internet poker. at very first glance’
In other words: ‘We actually might let PokerStars in, but only like it,’ is the implied message if we feel. The door is far from wide open, but it really is slightly ajar.
The PokerStars question is a huge sticking point that has prevented stakeholders from agreeing in the language of previous bills, and it’s one of many reasons on-line poker hadsstalled in California within the past.
A sizable coalition of tribal operators is vehemently opposed to an online that is regulated space that may consist of PokerStars. On the other hand of the coin, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, allied utilizing the largest poker clubs in the state, including the Commerce, the Bike and the Hawaiian Gardens, have finalized an understanding with PokerStars to work together in a potential post-regulatory environment.
The San Manuel Band also recently defected to the PokerStars camp. But, it may well be that there is enough within the language of this bill to appease both camps.
Land-Based Sign-Ups Only
Another aspect that is crucial of bill is that players will be needed to create records in individual at the poker web site’s affiliated land-based cardroom, a measure presumably designed to restrict underage play, but that might well stymie the development of the overall game in the state. Nevertheless, Gatto is confident that this bill could finally make 2015 the that California gets fully legal, regulated, and taxed online poker year.
