In total, 7,000 casino workers, or 25% of the Atlantic City casino workforce, could be losing their jobs in the next couple of months. That will throw 3,140 workers out of work, adding to a toll that has driven the city’s unemployment rate above 10%. Meanwhile, the Revel Casino, a $2.4-billion tower that was supposed to herald yet another rebirth of Atlantic City when it opened in 2012, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in just over a year, and also may close. (Trump still owned 9.8% of the ownership company as of February 2013, according to public filings.) Over the weekend the owners of Trump Plaza, formerly a signature property on the boardwalk, said they expected it to close in September the resort’s founder and namesake, Donald Trump, couldn’t run from the wreckage fast enough: “I got out seven years ago my timing was tremendous,” he said, or bragged, or whatever it is he does when his lips are moving. The news from the casino industry in Atlantic City, N.J., has been implacably, relentlessly horrific.
