30% Plunge in Trump Atlantic City Revenue in October

Atlantic City Trump casinos order workers to take time off without pay to make up for hurricane losses

Posted: Monday, November 12, 2012

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff WriterpressofAtlanticCity.com

 

Managers and frontline workers at the two casinos owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. are feeling the brunt of some cost-cutting measures in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Salaried employees must take one week of unpaid furlough, while hourly workers will not be allowed to use their vacation time to compensate them for lost time during Atlantic City’s five-day hurricane shutdown, the company says.

Bob Griffin, Trump Entertainment’s chief executive officer, told employees in a memo dated Nov. 5 that the loss of casino revenue during the shutdown “will linger for many months and has complicated our already challenging financial situation.”

Trump Entertainment originally planned to let workers use their vacation time in place of days lost to the shutdown. However, Griffin said the company has reversed that decision as it looks to save money. He also said salaried employees must take a week off without pay by Dec. 2.

“We recognize the hardship you and your family are already enduring, however, in order to keep the properties open through the upcoming weeks, our only alternative is to implement a more aggressive savings plan,” Griffin told employees in the memo.

Griffin noted that the casino industry has been hurt by hurricane damage in Atlantic City’s feeder markets. Atlantic City’s core customer base comes from New York and North Jersey, parts of which were slammed by the Oct. 29 storm.

Trump Entertainment spokesman Brian Cahill did not immediately return messages Monday seeking comment about the employee austerity measures.

Trump Entertainment is the parent company of Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. Both Trump casinos suffered a more than 30 percent plunge in their October gambling revenue during the hurricane-shortened month. Trump Plaza had just $6.6 million in total revenue from its slot machines and table games, the lowest among Atlantic City’s 12 casino hotels.

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Gambling Mecca Las vegas hits the skids

Gambling Mecca Las vegas hits the skids

Casinos empty out as American hold tightly to money


Las Vegas, once the entertainment hotspot of the United States has been particularly hit hard by the economic recession. Casinos are empty, hotels are left largely vacant and many are unable to find work. There is little hope that the return of tourists will revive the city and the state anytime soon.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the New York Times, the nation's gambling capital as its deepest economic rut since casinos first began rising in the desert there in the 1940s. While city leaders remain hopeful that gambling revenues will rebound with the nation's economy, this won't address the losses suffered due to the collapse of the construction industry, which was the other economic pillar of the city and the state of Nevada.

Unemployment in Nevada is 14.4 percent, the highest in the nation. Unemployment was 3.8 percent just ten years ago.

In Las Vegas, joblessness is at 14.7 percent. August was the 44th consecutive month in which Nevada led the nation in housing foreclosures.

The Plaza Hotel and Casino has announced that it was laying off 400 workers and closing its hotel and parts of its casino for eventual renovation.

"It's been in bad shape before, but not this bad," David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says. "If you look at the gaming revenues, they have declined and continue to decline over the past three years.

"September 11 set off a two-year slowdown," Schwartz said. "But nothing of this magnitude."
Mayor Oscar Goodman, while optimistic about Las Vegas' future, admits that "Our daily room rate average is not what it was. Our hotel room rates are bargains now. People aren't spending on gambling as they have in the past.

"Ordinarily Las Vegas was the last to go into a recession and the first to come out. This one is different. As soon as they feel secure in their financial position, then Las Vegas will come back stronger than ever."

The decline in gambling revenues tracks historical trends, as Americans cut back on recreational travel and gambling during a recession.

"I think we are bumping along the bottom," said Stephen Brown, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which has been tracking the downturn. "Expectations are that once the U.S. economy turns around, the gaming industry will begin to improve."