
Trump Plaza’s shutdown will signify as four Atlantic City casinos could be closed this year. (Image: Lisa Andres/Flickr)
The casino industry of Atlantic City is presently dealing with an unprecedented freefall. After years of declining revenues, at least two casinos have already closed or plan to shut this year, and another is facing a lightning link slot machine strategy bankruptcy that is second two years. And now, a fourth has stated that they also expect to shut down in just a few months.
That is the apparent fate of the Trump Plaza casino, as Trump Entertainment Resorts has said that they anticipate the venue to close on September 16. As the owners reportedly said that the decision isn’t entirely final, employees had been to receive warnings of the expected closing on early in the day this week.
‘Although [the] review have not been completed and no concluding decision was made, the business expects so it will terminate the operations of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino on or shortly after September 16, 2014,’ the company told the Associated Press.
Trump Plaza Joins Other AC Closures
If the closure goes through as expected, the effect could be that up to a third of Atlantic City’s casinos could close this year down. In January, the Atlantic Club shuttered its doors, while the Showboat is about to close in August. Meanwhile, the Revel is in bankruptcy court for the time that is second and could potentially close if a buyer for the property can not be discovered. That could leave the city with simply eight casinos that are remaining compared to 12 at the start of the year.
In accordance with an AP report, no buyer has yet come forward to take over the casino, which is not yet known what the long run could hold for the building after the resort closes.
The Trump Plaza was exposed in May 1984. At the time, it ended up being a personal task for Donald Trump, though he now just owns a 10 percent stake in Trump Entertainment Resorts and is no longer involved in the daily operations of this company. The venue cost $210 million to build.
Loss in Gambling Enterprises Could Help resorts that are remaining
Even though the loss of as much as four casinos may seem apocalyptic for Atlantic City, there’s reason to believe it could actually assist in the long run. The oversaturated casino market in the northeastern United States has hurt Atlantic City, with competition from Pennsylvania being particularly damaging.
But there are still an abundance of visitors to the populous city, sufficient reason for eight casinos still 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 divide those customers rather than 12.
Which is cool convenience to those whom lose jobs because of the casino closures, however. If both the Revel and Trump Plaza were to close, that could suggest that nearly 8,000 casino employees could have lost jobs in Atlantic City this year alone. That represents in regards to a quarter of this city’s gambling workforce.
Trump Plaza has long been on the market, but Trump Entertainment Resorts has had trouble finding an interested buyer. Final year, the venue ended up being almost sold for $20 million to a firm in California, but that deal fell through. If the Plaza near 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, that is denied he’s got any links to crime that is organized was bought to post $2 million bail, along side giving up his $48 million private jet as collateral. (Image: bankrollmob.com)
Probably if you plan to set up an illegal recreations betting ring, doing it on the property of a significant Las Las vegas casino with unique recreations book is not your most useful idea ever. But that reality seemingly have eluded high-stakes poker player Paul Phua, who was arrested along side A world that is illegal cup band operating out of three luxury rooms in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
The FBI broke up the operation at the high-roller suites final week, where in fact the gang of seven men and another woman had been running what the Gambling Control Board described as a kind of high-tech ‘wire space,’ where illegal World Cup bets had been being monitored by computers remotely connected to others computers overseas.
The poker world understands Paul Phua, 50, as high-stakes poker player, a ‘wealthy Asian businessman’ and a figure that is prominent the fabled Macau big game; he is rated #1 on the Hendon Mob’s Macau All-Time Money List. Three months he played in the Big One for One Drop tournament ago he came sixth in the EPT Grand Final High Roller Event in Monte Carlo and in 2012. However, in accordance with the FBI, he could be Wei Seng Phua, a high-ranking member of the 14K Triad organized unlawful group.
The ‘Wire Room’
The court heard Phua had been arrested in Macau in mid-June and faced with running a gambling that is illegal there. After being released on bail, it seems he hot-tailed it up to Las Vegas to carry on running the procedure remotely.
Caesars became suspicious when Phua, or one of his associates, insisted that the casino install an unusual number of technical equipment into the suites, enough to help eight electronic subscriber lines on top the normal WiFi access. Employees observed computer monitors that were hooked up to what looked like a sportsbook, and next to the computer stations, there have been three screen that is large, tuned into World Cup soccer games.
(We will pause which means you can observe time that is smirk).
Acting on a tip-off from Caesars, undercover law enforcement agents monitored activity in the suites through the entire thirty days. They raided the suites on July 9, seizing gambling records, computer gear and other evidence.
All eight defendants appeared in court on Monday and were charged with at least one count of the unlawful transmission of wagering information and of operating an illegal gambling company. Paul Phua’s Las Vegas attorney, David Chesnoff, denied the link to prepared crime and said that Phua would fight the charges.
‘ This is a very advanced, intelligent individual who wants 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 private jet as 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 also 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 greatly help upload Phua’s bail, with Robl evidently willing to pay $1.5 million.
Among the list of group was another poker player, Malaysian national Seng Chen Yong, 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 their son Wai Kin Yong were both detained as flight risks.
An ongoing investigation is being conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. If found guilty, the defendants could address five years in prison. Not to mention the wrath of the Triad.
Bart Tichelman Daughter Charged in Bing Executive Overdose
Bart Tichelman’s daughter Alix has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of A bing executive. (Image: Shmuel Thaler/AP)
Drugs, prostitution as well as the death of the major executive that is corporate just like the aspects of a made-for-TV film. But in this case, the story is all too real, and also includes a surprising connection to 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 because of the loss of Forrest Tim Hayes, a Google professional. Tichelman is accused of injecting Hayes with heroin on his yacht, then leaving him to die regarding the resulting overdose. Hayes died on 23, 2013 november.
That fee was handed down in Santa Cruz Superior Court last week, along with charges of possession, administration and transport of drugs, along with destroying evidence, participating in prostitution, and agreeing to prostitution. Tichelman failed to enter a plea.
Security Footage Shows Tichelman on Yacht
Police allege that Tichelman had a relationship that is ongoing Hayes in her role as a prostitute. Protection footage from Hayes’ yacht, the ‘Escape,’ presumably shows Tichelman stepping over Hayes’ body and ingesting from a glass of wine without doing any such thing to assist him after she had allegedly injected him using the ultimately deadly heroin overdose. Fingerprints on the glass of wine helped to determine Tichelman, as did her tattoos that are distinctive which she had shared on social news records.
Tichelman was arrested week that is last authorities lured her to a Santa Cruz resort. Reports state that police led her to believe that the rich client was willing to pay her $1,000 for sex.
Even though the current fee pertaining to Hayes’ death is manslaughter, the situation could get even worse for Tichelman should the investigation generate more proof.
‘In the event that evidence shows that murder is 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 folsom-based company that manages Internet data centers throughout the world. He’s also a poker that is successful with over $430,000 in career competition earnings. Most of that came in one cash that is major a success in a 2008 World group of Poker Circuit occasion in Tunica that earned him $425,595 in prize cash. Bart Tichelman is still active in poker today, even cashing in a World variety of Poker occasion within days gone by few weeks.
Alix Tichelman was previously related to Dean Riopelle, a former lover who died just two months before Hayes. Riopelle passed away of a heart assault, but police are now apparently reopening an investigation into their death due to the fact circumstances were much like those of Hayes.
There’s also another connection with a death that is similar Tichelman’s past. She once dated Warren Ullom, an Atlanta singer whom ended up being convicted of the voluntary manslaughter of a woman whom died after a lethal dosage of heroin.
Tichelman was understood 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 herself as an author and poet, sometimes posting dark poems to Facebook and other social news sites.
