Taj Mahal to close Dec 2014

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/11/14/trump-taj-mahal/19063743/

The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city's 12 casinos to shut down this year.


Dec 12, 2014 to be precise.
RIP Taj.

What happened?! wasn't it the #1 AC casino b4 Borgata arrived? then stayed at #2 for a long while?

How did it fall soooooooooo far from grace?

In the late-1980s when it opened it was an "it" place, but I doubt they made many changes over the years. Closure of Showboat could not have helped as they had a connecting skyway so being more isolated that was not good. But OTOH it had more than one bankruptcy over the years. In the end it was too much casino for blue-hair bus trips.

The question becomes how much of A/C will in the end survive? 5 of twelve big places empty, tourists do not like this. As to convention business there are better choices, getting to the island from any airport is a pain. They still have the beach, but the island is a slum.

To me it is not a stretch to say that in a few years just 2-3 casinos will remain there an it's days as "Vega East" are a memory.

Quote: 100xOdds

What happened?! wasn't it the #1 AC casino b4 Borgata arrived? then stayed at #2 for a long while?
How did it fall soooooooooo far from grace?

Two simple answers, neither of them entirely satisfactory but neither of them really wrong:

First: Gambling in Atlantic City was a Golden Egg created by a STATE law and Atlantic City is a CITY with no real control or even influence over the gambling revenue so there were no infrastructure changes. The Tah Mahal didn't fall from grace, the CITY fell from grace all around it.

Second: When Trump sold it everyone said he had been bested in the negotiations since it was worth some wondrously imaginative sum, but in reality Trump got far too high a price and it was the sign of things to come as giddy headlines started to give way to the bottom line on operating statements.

When dreams and hype disappear, the reality set in: its a drag to get to AC, its a depressing and dangerous place, the casinos are leeches sucking the money away from the boardwalk or anything else, pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers lurk in the darkness, there were no real buffer zones at many properties.

Busloads arrived from NYC but often disgorged Seniors without much money to spend who only came to sing songs on the bus and get a free meal. The casinos thought they would get busloads of wallets but found they were getting only busloads of coin purses.

Throw in a few sneezes in the economy and you get reality. The bottom line. Too many Double Zeros as the casino tried to get upscale players with lots of money and found they could attract only low scale players with coin purses who knew more gambling math than the dealers did.

When AC first opened, BJ gmes were three persons deep and neophyte craps dealers figured craps payouts by dropping chips until they saw a New Yorker smile, then they would take one back. But the boom was short lived and the money went to the state politicians trough.

I have fond memories of the Taj. For the first 5 plus years of my career, I spent 3 nights a week in AC and 2 of those where at the Taj, where comped rooms were easy to come by for a low roller like I was at the time. The blackjack games were very mediocre as was most of AC at the time, but I played there enough to get my rooms and food. The buffet was average and they had a burger place that I loved (appropriately named "Burger").

I have only been to AC one time in recent years, just to check out Revel after it opened. With an east coast trip coming up, I am kind of feeling like I would like to visit AC and the Taj, one more time. It is just hard to believe that out of the 4 northern boardwalk properties of resorts, Taj, Showboat and Revel, that Resorts is going to be the one to survive that north end. That makes no sense...but few things in life do.

Going to miss the Taj but not surprised because it was really not a safe place.

http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2014/10/wynn_speech.html

Steve Wynn in his usual street smarts common sense:

"Bringing people from over there to over here is simple," Wynn said. "It means what's over here is better than what's over there so what's over here if it's better has to be bigger, have more stuff."

Over here (Atlantic City as a whole) is an absolute crap dump all around with a crappy experience to boot. The rooms at any of the AC casinos were never renovated since opening. Over there which is over here (The newly opened local casinos like Resorts World NY, Sands Bethlehem, Live Casino in MD, etc) are much better in terms of overall experience compared to AC. The folks in AC thought that high it used to enjoy would lasts forever. It was all artificial because it was the only game in town at the time so everyone had to head over there for any sort of wagering. Not anymore. The AC casinos never reinvested or reinvented itself to maintain the edge it used to enjoy. What continues to add insult to injury is that customer service sucks in most places. Except for the great quality of service at Showboat, most AC casinos offer sub-par unsatisfactory service. Not only that Atlantic City as a whole is a depressing piece of land even on a bright sunny day.

A very simple reason as to why folks like me would rather suffer through the six hour flights to Vegas when I was back in the East Coast. Over there which is now over here for me (Wynn, Aria, Gold Nugget) offers an exceptional experience and gives me my money's worth. If AC cared about its reputation and actually offered a level of service, casinos like the Taj would not be closing.

It just shows opening a strip club in a casino won't save your business.

Quote: Boz

It just shows opening a strip club in a casino won't save your business.

I think once that happens...its too late for anything to save it.

Casinos did not invest in their rooms or their surroundings, state coffers were controlled by state politicians, not city politicians, when the initial flood subsided the money went to the MBAs somewhere.

Binion said he gave people a good bet and a good drink.
AC tried to get by on an average bet and a watered-down drink.

Customers eventually revolt.

Quote: kewlj

I have fond memories of the Taj. For the first 5 plus years of my career, I spent 3 nights a week in AC and 2 of those where at the Taj, where comped rooms were easy to come by for a low roller like I was at the time. The blackjack games were very mediocre as was most of AC at the time, but I played there enough to get my rooms and food. The buffet was average and they had a burger place that I loved (appropriately named "Burger").

I have only been to AC one time in recent years, just to check out Revel after it opened. With an east coast trip coming up, I am kind of feeling like I would like to visit AC and the Taj, one more time. It is just hard to believe that out of the 4 northern boardwalk properties of resorts, Taj, Showboat and Revel, that Resorts is going to be the one to survive that north end. That makes no sense...but few things in life do.

The "Burger" offers the best bang for a buck. For the $4.99 special, you get a big burger with cheese, large french fries and a free drink (i.e., iced water). It steals most customers from the near by eateries (i.e., the White Castle, the Panda, etc...)

BTW, I loved to use "Burger" as an excuse to take off from a mini-losing streak from tables. I would ask a floor person to hold my spot while I went for a quick bite (That supervisor "forgot" to log me off. I still earned my comp dollars while away.) Thank you Sir.

The Taj has yet to change their website and advise customers they are closing and what the closing procedures are. They are also still taking reservations past December 12. Even though the documents and board say they are closing are they still waiting for a White Knight to save them. They should be transparent and make a formal announcement. It is possible they are waiting for DGE to approve the shutdown.

The bankruptcy story about Icahn somehow profiting even with a closed casino with the tax breaks makes me not care if they close. Seems possible Taj is lying to get what they want then they'll do an about face.

Taj had the best casino promotions according to Casino Player magazine. I tend to agree. There's always some promo just about every day.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

The bankruptcy story about Icahn somehow profiting even with a closed casino with the tax breaks makes me not care if they close. Seems possible Taj is lying to get what they want then they'll do an about face.

I don't know about that. The story about the Taj closing was news all over the country. The board is not going to vote for a decision that goes into a public bankruptcy document. No one is going to book a room past December 12th even if you still can. Would you plan a trip and then find out a couple of weeks later that the property will be closed. How about New Years Eve. Could you imagine living in New York City booking a room for Dec 30th and 31st and then have to change your plans. What are they going to say in few weeks. False alarm, we were bailed out. This doesn't even take into account employees who are terminating leases on their apartments and have accepted other jobs. Just can't believe they are going to play around with people's lives in a stunt to force someone to keep them open.

taj is lowering the qualification to win the bad beat jackpot in poker starting dec 2.

they have to get rid of that $ b4 they close on dec 12.

don't know what the new requirement is tho.

Quote: 100xOdds

taj is lowering the qualification to win the bad beat jackpot in poker starting dec 2.

they have to get rid of that $ b4 they close on dec 12.

don't know what the new requirement is tho.

Michael and Worm should be spotted there shortly......

I always like their noodle bar: The Rim. i know it wasn't great, but I enjoyed it and the Taj in general.

It's too bad people can't find a way to make AC work: maybe one day in the future...

so what was the winning hand for the poker bad beat jackpot b4 the Taj closed forever?

A bunch of creepy casinos closed or will close soon. Tasteless, poorly designed joints. The floor location at Revel is weird at best. Monorail connecting Cape May and ocean towns, transportation hub Washington - NYC, Panama City, Florida type high rises along the coast. AC needs a major investment. Billions upon billions.

Quote: 100xOdds

so what was the winning hand for the poker bad beat jackpot b4 the Taj closed forever?

so it seems the Taj isn't closing:
http://nypost.com/2014/12/17/icahn-brokers-deal-to-save-atlantic-citys-trump-taj-mahal/

Carl Icahn caved into Union's demands.
I'm shocked by this.. never thought Icahn would blink first.

so I guess the bad beat jackpot lives on

Yay. I was grandfathered into free rooms there from Plaza and was hoping to visit before it closed. I got busy, but now I can probably make it up there mid January.