user: Q: Trump Taj Mahal to Shut Down After Labor Day Weekend

Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino will close at the end of the Labor Day weekend amid labor strife stirred by the last in a series of bankruptcies for the former gambling empire of Donald Trump.

The Republican presidential nominee hasn’t been involved in the management of the casino for years, but his name remains on the facade of the boardwalk property, which is owned by billionaire Carl Icahn .

Represented by Unite Here Local 54, some 1,000 Trump Taj Mahal workers went on strike July 1, asking for the restoration of health-care benefits lost in the company’s most recent bankruptcy.

In a statement, Tony Rodio, president and chief executive of Tropicana Entertainment Inc., which is also controlled by Mr. Icahn, blamed striking workers for the demise of the Taj.

“Our directors cannot just allow the Taj to continue burning through tens of millions of dollars when the Union has single-handedly blocked any path to profitability,” Mr. Rodio said. He declined through a spokeswoman to answer questions.

Union chief Bob McDevitt criticized Mr. Icahn in a statement, likening the billionaire investor to a “playground bully” who would rather pick up his ball and go home than trying to reach an agreement with the casino’s workers.

“The great deal-maker would rather burn the Trump Taj Mahal down just so he can control the ashes,” Mr. McDevitt said. “For a few million bucks, he could have had labor peace and a content workforce, but instead he’d rather slam the door shut on these long-term workers just to punish them and attempt to break their strike.”

After years of decline and casino closings, the Atlantic City gambling industry has started to stabilize. Earlier this summer, the casino workers’ union reached new labor contracts with four other casinos, three owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp. , as well as Mr. Icahn’s Tropicana. But the union was unable to reach a new deal for the Trump Taj Mahal.

At an average wage of less than $12 an hour, the Trump Taj Mahal workers are among the lowest-paid in Atlantic City, having lost their health-care benefits as well as other labor contract protections in bankruptcy.

Mr. Icahn pledged to invest $100 million into the Trump Taj Mahal to get it in shape to compete, but dialed down the investment after the company left bankruptcy-court supervision.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Icahn said Wednesday that he was unavailable for questions about the decision to close the Trump Taj Mahal on Labor Day.

For more than a year before the picket lines went up, the relationship between union workers and the billionaire was marked by marches and protests in Atlantic City and New York, where Icahn Enterprises has its headquarters. Mr. Icahn has posted open letters on his website, questioning the honesty of union leadership.

Opened by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in 1990, the Trump Taj Mahal was the centerpiece of his gambling operation. By 2014, he sued to get his name off the casino and others in Atlantic City that later closed, fretting their tattered state would harm his brand.

Write to Peg Brickley at peg.brickley@wsj.com
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino will close at the end of Labor Day weekend amid labor strife stirred by the last in a series of bankruptcies for the former gambling empire of Donald Trump.


Lakers Chat: Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors

October 22, 2010 | 6:50 pm

Live Event: "Lakers vs. Warriors" by latmedina Scheduled start: October 22, 2010 at 6:45PM PDT It looks like you might be having some trouble. Please ensure you have Adobe Flash installed and enabled in your web browser. If the device you are on doesn't support flash, you can view this event at http://gsnap.com/1575 Powered by G-Snap! | A Live Interactive Blogging Platform

"Lakers vs. Warriors" by latmedina

Scheduled start: October 22, 2010 at 6:45PM PDT

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Summary: Live Event: "Lakers vs. Warriors" by latmedina Scheduled start: October 22, 2010 at 6:45PM PDT It looks like you might be having some trouble. Please ensure you have Adobe Flash installed and enabled in your web browser. If the device you are on doesn't support flash, you can view this event at http://gsnap.com/1575 Powered by G-Snap! | A Live Interactive Blogging Platform --Mark Medina Twitter.com/latmedina E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com


IN: No Time For Games
Another month, another hit to an industry that once seemed immune to the financial distress afflicting broad segments of the economy. Sales of video games, both hardware and software, fell 29% in July compared to the same month in 2008, according to research group NPD. That's the fifth consecutive monthly decline, although a smaller one than June's 31% drop. Year-to-date that brings industry revenue to $8.2 billion, a 14% decrease in the first seven months of the year. But there's reason to think the games industry is in for a rebound this fall.

One unavoidable factor contributing to the steep decline in revenues this year are the game consoles. Machines like the Nintendo ( NTDOY.PK - news - people ) Wii, the Sony ( SNE - news - people ) PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) Xbox 360 are showing their age and their price. Hardware sales fell 37% in July, to software's 29%. Some of that drop-off is to be expected: typically, a new generation of consoles will generate strong sales for its first few years before tailing off as more homes already have one in the living room. But the recession is also playing a role here: the three consoles still cost between $250 and $400 while consumers are cutting back on big discretionary purchases this summer. Games, in contrast, cost $40 to $60. (See "Crack In Videogames' Armor").

"Hardware sales have slowed considerably to date on nearly every platform," writes NPD analyst Anita Frazier. The lone exception is the Xbox 360, which is up for the first seven months of the year.

Analysts who cover the gaming beat are predicting that the console makers will likely reduce prices this fall to lure bargain-hungry shoppers. That should also benefit the publishers who make the games themselves and plan a slate of blockbuster titles to coincide with the console discounts. Among the releases industry watches are looking forward to are a Beatles version of the popular music game Rock Band, another installment in the action series Halo and another sequel to the war game Call of Duty. All three should be strong sellers.

For the record, July's biggest sellers heavily favored Nintendo, which has consistently surprised analysts with the popularity of its casual and easy-to-learn games. Wii Sports Resort was the month's top seller with over 500,000 games sold. Nintendo heavily teased the game at this year's E3 games expo, boasting of the new motion controller that comes with the title and lets players accurately simulate archery and other sports. (See "Wii Takes Gamers' Pulses").

Publisher Electronic Arts ( ERTS - news - people ) scored the second and third sports with NCAA Football 10 for the Xbox and PlayStation. Nintendo took the remainder of the top five with its Wii Fit training program and Mario Kart racing games for the Wii and the mobile console Nintendo DS. The PlayStation 3 garnered only one of the top ten this month as Sony's high-priced, but high performance, game system continues to lag the competition.
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OUT:

assistant: Sales of video games took another dive last month but analysts say fall blockbusters could save the season.