
Trump Plaza’s shutdown will mean that as four Atlantic City casinos might be closed this 12 months. (Image: Lisa Andres/Flickr)
The casino industry of Atlantic City is currently dealing with a freefall that is unprecedented. After several years of declining revenues, at least two casinos have already closed or plan to close this present year, and another is facing a bankruptcy that is second couple of years. And now, a fourth has said that they also be prepared to shut straight down in just a months that are few.
That is the fate that is apparent of Trump Plaza casino, as Trump Entertainment Resorts has said that they anticipate the venue to close on September 16. Even though the owners reportedly said that the decision isn’t entirely last, employees were to get warnings of this anticipated closing on previously this week.
‘Although [the] review has not been completed and no ultimate decision is made, the company expects so it will terminate the operations of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on or shortly after September 16, 2014,’ the business told the Associated Press.
Trump Plaza Joins Other AC Closures
If the closure goes through as expected, the effect could be that as much as a third of Atlantic City’s casinos could close this year down. In January, the Atlantic Club shuttered its doors, while the Showboat is likely to close in August. Meanwhile, the Revel is currently in bankruptcy court for the time that is second and could potentially shut if a customer for the property can not be found. That could keep the city with just eight remaining casinos, when compared with 12 at the start of the year.
In accordance with an AP report, no buyer has yet come forward to take the casino over, and it is perhaps not yet known exactly what the long run could hold for the building following the resort closes.
The Trump Plaza was opened in May 1984. At that time, it was a personal task for Donald Trump, though he now only owns a 10 percent stake in Trump Entertainment Resorts and is no longer involved in the daily operations associated with the company. The venue cost $210 million to build.
Lack of Casinos Could Help Remaining Resorts
Whilst the loss of up to four casinos may seem apocalyptic for Atlantic City, there’s explanation to believe it could actually help in the run that is long. The casino that is oversaturated in the northeastern United States has hurt Atlantic City, with competition from Pennsylvania being specially harmful.
But you will find still an abundance of visitors to the populous city, sufficient reason for eight casinos nevertheless active there, most gamblers will don’t have any trouble finding a resort that appeals to them. That means that there may be nearly as many gamblers as before, but that there will now be only eight casinos to split those customers rather than 12.
Which is comfort that is cold those who lose jobs as a result of the casino closures, however. This year alone if both the Revel and Trump Plaza were to close, that could mean that nearly 8,000 casino employees will have lost jobs in Atlantic City. That represents about a quarter for the city’s gambling workforce.
Trump Plaza has long been available on the market, but Trump Entertainment Resorts has had trouble finding an interested buyer. Last year, the venue had been almost offered for $20 million to a firm in California, but that deal fell through. If the Plaza close down, Trump Entertainment will operate simply one casino in Atlantic City, the Trump Taj Mahal.
Poker Player Paul Phua Arrested with World Cup Gambling Ring
Paul Phua, who’s denied he’s got any links to orderly crime, was purchased to post $2 million bail, along with stopping his $48 million private jet as collateral. (Image: bankrollmob.com)
Probably on the property of a major Las Vegas casino with their own sports book is not your best idea ever if you plan to set up an illegal sports betting ring, doing it. But that reality seemingly have eluded high-stakes poker player Paul Phua, who is arrested along with A world that is illegal cup ring operating out of three luxury rooms in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
The FBI broke up the operation during the high-roller suites last week, in which the gang of seven men and one woman had been running what the Gambling Control Board described being a kind of high-tech ‘wire space,’ where illegal World Cup bets were being monitored by computers remotely connected to other people computers offshore.
The poker world understands Paul Phua, 50, as high-stakes poker player, a ‘wealthy Asian businessman’ and a prominent figure in the fabled Macau big game; he is rated #1 on the Hendon Mob’s Macau All-Time Money List. Three months ago he came sixth in the EPT Grand Final High Roller Event in Monte Carlo and in 2012 he played within the Big One for just one Drop competition. However, according to the FBI, he is Wei Seng Phua, a high-ranking person in the 14K Triad organized unlawful group.
The ‘Wire Room’
The court heard Phua had been arrested in Macau in mid-June and charged with running a gambling that is illegal there. After being released on bail, it appears he hot-tailed it up to nevada to continue running the operation remotely.
Caesars became suspicious when Phua, or one of his associates, insisted that the casino install an unusual number of technical equipment within the suites, enough to support eight subscriber that is digital on top the normal WiFi access. Employees observed computer monitors which were hooked up to what appeared as if a sportsbook, and then to the computer stations, there have been three screen that is large, tuned into World Cup soccer games.
(we’ll pause and that means you can observe time that is smirk).
Acting on a tip-off from Caesars, undercover law enforcement agents monitored activity in the rooms throughout the month. They raided the suites on July 9, seizing gambling records, computer equipment and other evidence.
All eight defendants showed up in court on Monday and were charged with a minumum of one count of the illegal transmission of wagering information and of operating an illegal gambling business. Paul Phua’s Las Vegas lawyer, David Chesnoff, denied the link to planned crime and said that Phua would fight the charges.
‘ This is a very sophisticated, intelligent individual who desires to defend himself,’ said Chesnoff.
$2 Million Bail for Phua
US Magistrate Judge Bill Hoffman set the bail for Paul Phua at $2 million, along with his $48 million jet that is private collateral. Phua’s son Darren Phua, 22, also allegedly person in the gang, was ordered to publish $500,000 bail. Both defendants had been ordered to be electronically monitored and to stay on home detention into the custody of a doctor that is local had befriended Phua senior through the poker community. According to Chesnoff, several poker players, including Andrew Robl, were rallying around to help publish Phua’s bail, with Robl evidently ready to pay $1.5 million.
Among the group was another poker player, Malaysian Seng that is national Chen, 56. In April 2012, Yong placed 4th in the Asian Poker Tour Manila for $ 439,379, coincidently per year before Phua also placed fourth in the tournament that is same. Yong and his son Wai Kin Yong were both detained as flight risks.
An investigation that is ongoing being conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. If found guilty, the defendants could face up to five years in prison. Not forgetting the wrath of the Triad.
Bart Tichelman Daughter Charged in Google Executive Overdose
Bart Tichelman’s daughter Alix was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of A google executive. (Image: Shmuel Thaler/AP)
Drugs, prostitution as well as the death of a major executive that is corporate like the components of a made-for-TV film. However in this case, the story is all too real, and also has a surprising link with the globe of gambling.
Alix Catherine Tichelman, a model who police say was also a prostitute that is high-end has been charged with manslaughter in connection utilizing the loss of Forrest Tim Hayes, a Google executive. Tichelman is accused of injecting Hayes with heroin on his yacht, then leaving him to die for the overdose that is resulting. Hayes died on 23, 2013 november.
That cost was passed down in Santa Cruz Superior Court last week, along side fees of possession, management and transport of drugs, along with destroying evidence, engaging in prostitution, and agreeing to prostitution. Tichelman didn’t enter a plea.
Security Footage Shows Tichelman on Yacht
Police allege that Tichelman had a relationship that is ongoing Hayes inside her role as being a prostitute. Protection footage from Hayes’ yacht, the ‘Escape,’ allegedly shows Tichelman stepping over Hayes’ body and drinking from a glass of wine without doing any such thing to aid him after she had presumably inserted him aided by the ultimately fatal heroin overdose. Fingerprints on the glass of wine helped to spot Tichelman, as did her tattoos that are distinctive which she had shared on social news reports.
Tichelman ended up being arrested week that is last authorities lured her to a Santa Cruz hotel. Reports state that police led her to trust that a rich client was willing to pay her $1,000 for sex.
The situation could get even worse for Tichelman should the investigation turn up more evidence while the current charge related to Hayes’ death is manslaughter.
‘If the evidence shows that murder are proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then we are going to certainly evaluate that when that’s presented,’ said prosecutor Rafael Vazquez. ‘She knew the act was dangerous to human life and she acted deliberately and in conscious disregard for human life.’
Tichelman is Daughter of CEO Poker Player
Tichelman may be the child of Bart Tichelman, the CEO of SynapSense, a firm that is folsom-based manages Internet data centers throughout the world. He is also a successful poker player with over $430,000 in job competition earnings. Most of that came in one major money: a triumph in a 2008 World number of Poker Circuit occasion in Tunica that earned him $425,595 in prize money. Bart Tichelman is still active in poker today, even cashing in a World variety of Poker occasion within days gone by couple weeks.
Alix Tichelman was previously linked with Dean Riopelle, a former fan whom passed away just two months before Hayes. Riopelle passed away of a heart assault, but police are now apparently reopening an investigation into their death as the circumstances were nearly the same as those of Hayes.
There’s also another connection with a similar death in Tichelman’s past. She once dated Warren Ullom, an Atlanta singer whom had been convicted of the manslaughter that is voluntary of woman who died after a lethal dosage of heroin.
Tichelman was known for modeling under the pseudonym of AK Kennedy, and when said she enjoyed modeling her to play a character because it allowed. She also saw by herself as a writer and poet, sometimes posting dark poems to Facebook and other media sites that are social.