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Still dealing with bankruptcy, Trump Resorts in Atlantic City is reconsidering the possibility of selling Trump marina.

In testimony Wednesday, Trump Entertainment’s financial adviser said Trump Marina’s sale would help stabilize the company amid declining revenue and lower earnings projections. He predicted a deal with Fields would be completed by the end of 2011, if not sooner.

“It is our strong belief that the Marina will be sold,” said Andrew Yearley, managing director at Lazard Freres & Co. “They will find a way to sell that asset. There is a legitimate buyer out there.”

This could also still be an option that Carl Icahn had in mind if he wins the battle for the Trump casinos.  The article also mentions that if Icahn were to get control of Trump casinos that he would keep Taj Mahal and try to sell Trump Marina and Trump Plaza.

There is hopes for the Parrotheads after all!  Now, things get interesting.

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Earlier this month Carl Icahn said, in a deposition, that he may sell two of the three Trump Casinos in Atlantic City if he wins the bankruptcy battle he’s in with Donald Trump.

“You could sell the Marina and the Plaza,” he said in the deposition, taped on Feb. 2.

Icahn added that he has not yet made up his mind, although he believes “it might make some sense to sell them.”

It’s a good thing Icahn is buying these properties at a discount because the value is dropping by the minute.  I imagine Icahn knows what he’s getting involved with here, but I’d probably try to run away from these deals, unless I had a huge surplus of money to play with.

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I haven’t done a round up in a while because there hasn’t been much news that I haven’t had time to touch on.  In the past couple of weeks that has changed.  Here are a slew of stories from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and a little in between.

• MGM Mirage and Sands reported earnings this week.  The Las Vegas Sun says things may be improving for casinos in Las Vegas.
• When reporting earnings, MGM Mirage lessened the value of their land in Atlantic City.
• A Federal judge looks at two plans for Trump Casinos in Atlantic City.
• Evidently the Eden Bar at Harrah’s is the best bar to find “cougars.”
• Philly.com looks at the Pennsylvania casinos.  I’m told table games are coming in August.
• Interesting thought.  Is Harrah’s too big?
• Hawaiian Tropic Zone at Planet Hollywood is closing.
• The Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Caesars Palace is closing.  I did find out that it’s moving to Paris.  Props to Five Hundy By Midnight.
• I haven’t been to Luxor in a while.  Evidently, it’s been remodeled and is underwhelming.
• Stiffs and Georges has jumped in front of the rest as my regularly updated go-to blog.  Short, quick, accurate casino & gambling news from across the US.

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The Atlantic City Press has a great article looking back at the past year and forward to this year for each Atlantic City casino.  Click here to see all of the analyst comments.  Below are the bullets for each casino.  I covered most of this as it was announced (go me!), but here’s a consolidated list.

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino

Opened: May 14, 1984

Owner: Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.

Employees: 2,187

2009 revenue: $202.3 million

Trump Plaza’s dismal performance in 2009 included a 28.7 percent decline in table game revenue and a 20.2 percent drop in slot winnings. The property will likely fall below $200 million in revenue in 2010. In 2005, it had more than $303 million in revenue.

This Boardwalk casino could use a facelift. Not much has happened since the casino floor was remodeled in 2006. Its architecture is hopelessly outdated. The Boardwalk entryway is like a portal to the 1980s.

Whoever wins in the bankruptcy fight over the Trump casinos will have to decide whether to unload the Plaza or upgrade it to take advantage of its prime Boardwalk location.

In what seems far-fetched now, in the pre-recession days of 2006, casino titans Donald Trump and Steve Wynn briefly played with the idea of redeveloping the Plaza into a

$3 billion megaresort.

Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort

Opened: April 2, 1990

Owner: Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.

Employees: 4,097

2009 revenue: $446 million

Donald Trump once boasted that this Indian-themed gaming palace was the “eighth wonder of the world.” Although it falls short of that lofty assessment, it did prove to be one of the few casino standouts in a dreadful year. The Taj joined Borgata as the only casinos that avoided double-digit revenue declines. For the Taj, it was 7.6 percent.

Moreover, the Taj was the only casino to have only a single-digit decline in both slot and table game revenue. Taj’s ace is its new 800-room hotel tower. Opened in Labor Day 2008, the $255 million expansion has generated extra hotel and convention business without using slot machines or table games as the main attraction. The tower is completely gaming-free.

Taj’s new owner will get the new tower, a remodeled casino, surrounding property good for expansion and the world-famous Steel Pier amusement park. Trump Entertainment flirted with redevelopment plans for the historic pier, but always lacked the money. With the right vision, and enough financing, a revamped pier jutting 1,000 feet over the ocean could become, well, the “eighth wonder of the world.”

Trump Marina Hotel Casino

Opened: June 17, 1985

Owner: Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.

Employees: 1,799

2009 revenue: $162.6 million

Trump Marina is the cellar-dweller for gaming revenue. Overshadowed by Marina District neighbors Harrah’s Resort and Borgata, the smallest of the three Trump casinos pulled in only $10 million in revenue in December. That was 25 percent lower than December of 2008.

For 2009, Trump Marina’s slot winnings plummeted 19.2 percent, to $125.3 million, and table game revenue fell 23 percent, to $37.3 million. Its total revenue of $162.6 million was even less than the $176.6 million that the tiny Sands Casino Hotel had in its last full year of operation in 2005.

The Sands closed down in November 2006 and was imploded a year later to make room for a proposed new casino. Analysts wonder whether Trump Marina awaits the same fate. Efforts to sell the Marina for $270 million failed last year, and now the casino is part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy battle for the entire Trump Entertainment gaming empire.

Icahn is vying with a bondholder group backed by Donald Trump for control of the Trump casinos. A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge is scheduled to rule in February whether Icahn or the bondholders will take over.

Read the rest of this entry →

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After spending a week under the weather I was able to get back in action last week.  While catching on news I noticed that there was a lot to share.  It pushed back my reviews from my Vegas, which will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

• Week 17 Picks
• Trump Casinos Worth “Little”
• World Series Of Poker 2010 Plans
• Nathan Burton In Atlantic City
• Things Are Normal With PEEPSHOW
• Notes From Las Vegas
• PA D-Day For Table Games is Now Jan 8
• PEEPSHOW Closing!
• Slot Machines Slow The Bleed
• Hard Rock Opens All Suite Tower In Las Vegas

My favorite picture of the week, that wasn’t Holly Madison or Aubrey O’Day was from the Hard Rock Las Vegas article.

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Trump Casinos are worth about 75% less than they were a year ago.  According to the New York Post the casino group went from being worth $2 billion last year to being worth “just $459 million.  The casinos continue to drop in valuation quickly as the group was worth $500 million a month ago.

The new, lower valuation comes just two days before US Bankruptcy Court Judge Judith Wizmur is scheduled to make a decision on two competing reorganization plans, one prepared by a group of debtors being backed by the company and the Donald, and another being presented by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn.

Additionally, Carl Icahn is stepping up pressure to acquire the Trump casinos by throwing some of his personal cash in the mix.

Billionaire Carl C. Icahn’s investment company is “putting its money where its mouth is” by offering to pump $125 million of its own funds into the bankrupt Trump casinos, according to newly released documents.

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I was away in Las Vegas last week and returned home to a week of sickness so I haven’t had a chance to wrap up what was going on.  There was only one update this week, so the week(s) in review will go by quickly.

• Pictures From Vegas
• Best of Vegas: New Slots
• Sahara Closes 2 Towers
• Tropicana To Icahn Approved By US Government
• Parx Casino Set To Open
• Trump To Icahn?

Aria

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