Before becoming the 45th president of the US in 2016 and now returning as President-elect for his second term in office, Donald Trump has been involved in a wide range of business ventures, from developing luxury real estate to appearing in reality TV.
While his reality TV career was a huge success, and some landmark buildings across the country bear his name, one area of Trump’s business that saw mixed results is his casino developments.
While Trump played a vital role in the history of three Atlantic City casinos and a riverboat casino in Indiana, his casino properties faced a series of bankruptcies, anti-money laundering violations, and tentative connections to organized crime.
Currently, Donald Trump owns no casinos in the US.
We’ve taken a deep dive into Trump’s casinos in the US, charting what happened with these casinos, from professional fighting events to $10 million casino games that inspired movies. So, let’s take a look at the history of Donald Trump’s casino projects.
Donald Trump started his career in 1968, working at his father’s real estate business. In 1971, his father made him president of Trump Management, which Donald later renamed the Trump Organization.
In March 1982, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission granted Trump a license to build a casino in Atlantic City. Usually, the Commission would grant a license after months of deliberation, but instead, it awarded Trump the license after a two-hour hearing.
Trump teamed up with the gaming unit of Holiday Inn, Harrah’s, and the casino opened as Harrah’s at Trump Plaza in 1984. Later that same year, the name was changed to Trump Plaza to avoid confusion with Harrah’s Marina
The casinos didn’t see much early success, only collecting pre-tax profits of $144,000 in the first half of 1985. Meanwhile, a dispute between Trump and 온라인카지노사이트 Harrah’s erupted after Trump purchased a nearly complete casino from the Hilton Hotel chain, which he named Trump’s Castle Hotel & Casino.
Harrah’s claimed this name was too close to Harrah’s at Trump Plaza and would confuse customers. The issue ended up in court, although the judicial system sided with Trump.
Trump then bought out Harrah’s from the casino in May 1986 for $70 million. Trump Plaza Casino expanded in 1989 when Trump paid $62 million to buy a neighboring casino. He also used $63 million to buy a bankrupt casino hotel and added it as a hotel annex to the existing structure.
The casino saw plenty of excitement during the late 1980s and early 90s. While it is commonly claimed it hosted WrestleMania IV and V, Trump simply sponsored these events, which were actually held at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall.
What did happen within the Trump Plaza Casino was the famous baccarat game in which Akio Kashiwagi lost $10 million. This game was later turned into the movie Casino, directed by Martin Scorsese.
The turn of the 1990s also coincided with financial struggle for the casino, in part due to Trump’s other casino, Trump Taj Mahal, opening just a mile away.
The casino almost defaulted on a 1991 payment to bondholders but avoided the issue by taking out a $25 million mortgage on the parking garage. The casino also submitted a prepackaged bankruptcy in March 1992 due to $250 million in debt.
Plans to expand the casino in 1993 were downsized as they would have required acquiring Vera Coking’s property. As a result, the $42 million expansion did not include a limousine parking lot. In 1995, Trump gave ownership of Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.