Trump Entertainment Kills Deal For Atlantic City Casino

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. is not in the best of shape to be playing hard ball with a potential suitor to but their Trump Marina Hotel Casino. They apparently believe they do have bargaining chips.

On Monday, Coastal Marina LLC was informed via a letter that Trump would not be following through on their deal for the sale of the Atlantic City casino. Coastal would still like to but the casino, should the $270 million asking price come down.

"We are disappointed with Trump Entertainment Resort Inc.'s letter today to terminate our agreement to acquire the Trump Marina Hotel casino," said Coastal, "It had been our hope to continue a dialogue with Trump Entertainment about modifying the agreement to reflect current economic realities, but regrettably they chose instead to send this letter. We remain committed to Atlantic City as the perfect market for a Margaritaville project."

The company's plan was to but the Trump casino and turn it into a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville themed resort. There is still the chance that will happen, although the company has given no indication to which of the city's other ten casinos could be a potential location.

The original price for the Trump Marina was agreed at $316 million. When the economy crashed, the price came down to $270. That price was still too steep for Coastal, who said that Tropicana, which is a much bigger property, just sold for $200 million.

Trump did not give any statements as to why they sent the letter and pulled out of the casino deal. The two sides had been beyond a deadline for the sale of the casino, but negotiations had been ongoing up until Monday's decision by Trump.

June 2, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
Submit News!