
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 presently facing a freefall that is unprecedented. After many years of declining revenues, at least two casinos have already closed or plan to shut this season, and another is facing a 2nd bankruptcy in 2 yrs. And now, a fourth has stated that they also expect you’ll shut down in just a few months.
That’s the fate that is apparent of Trump Plaza casino, as Trump Entertainment Resorts has said that they expect the venue to close on September 16. Even though the owners reportedly said that the decision isn’t entirely final, employees had been to receive warnings of this expected closing on early in the day this week.
‘Although [the] review have not been completed and no concluding 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 company told the Associated Press.
Trump Plaza Joins Other AC Closures
If the closure goes through as expected, the end result could be that as many as a third of Atlantic City’s casinos could close this year down. In January, best way to play lightning link slot the Atlantic Club shuttered its doors, while the Showboat is about to close in August. Meanwhile, the Revel happens to be in bankruptcy court for the time that is second and might potentially close if a customer for the home cannot be found. That could keep the town with simply eight remaining casinos, in comparison to 12 at the start of the year.
According to an AP report, no buyer has yet come forward to just take over the casino, which is not yet known what the future could hold for the building following the resort closes.
The Trump Plaza was opened in May 1984. At that time, it had been a project that is personal Donald Trump, though he now only owns a ten percent stake in Trump Entertainment Resorts and is no longer tangled up in the daily operations for the company. The venue cost $210 million to create.
Loss of Casinos Could Help Remaining Resorts
Whilst the loss of as much as four casinos may seem apocalyptic for Atlantic City, there’s explanation to think it might actually assist in the long run. The casino that is oversaturated in the northeastern United States has hurt Atlantic City, with competition from Pennsylvania being particularly harmful.
But you can find still lots of visitors to the city, and with eight casinos nevertheless active there, most gamblers will do not have trouble getting a resort that appeals to them. That means that there could be nearly as much gamblers as before, but that there will now be only eight casinos to separate those customers rather than 12.
Which is comfort that is cold those who lose jobs due to the casino closures, however. If both the Revel and Trump Plaza had been to shut, that could suggest that nearly 8,000 casino employees need lost jobs in Atlantic City this present year alone. That represents about a quarter associated with the city’s gambling workforce.
Trump Plaza is definitely on the market, but Trump Entertainment Resorts has had trouble finding an interested buyer. Last year, the venue had been nearly offered for $20 million to a firm in California, but that deal fell through. If the Plaza close down, Trump Entertainment will operate just 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 has any links to crime that is organized was ordered to post $2 million bail, along side quitting 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 appears to have eluded high-stakes poker player Paul Phua, who has been arrested along with A world that is illegal cup band operating out of three luxury suites in Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
The FBI broke up the operation during the high-roller suites final week, where the gang of seven men plus one woman had been running what the Gambling Control Board described as a kind of high-tech ‘wire room,’ where illegal World Cup bets had been being monitored by computers remotely connected to others computer systems 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 ranked #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’s Wei Seng Phua, a high-ranking person in the 14K Triad organized group that is criminal.
The ‘Wire Room’
The court heard Phua had been arrested in Macau in mid-June and charged with operating an illegal gambling business there. After being released on bail, it seems he hot-tailed it over to Las vegas, nevada to carry on running the operation remotely.
Caesars became suspicious when Phua, or one of his associates, insisted that the casino install an unusual amount of technical equipment into the suites, enough to support eight digital subscriber lines on top the normal WiFi access. Employees observed computer monitors which were hooked up to what appeared as if a sportsbook, and next 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 smirk time now).
Acting on a tip-off from Caesars, undercover law enforcement agents monitored activity in the suites through the month. They raided the suites on July 9, seizing gambling documents, computer equipment and other evidence.
All eight defendants showed up in court on Monday and were charged with one or more count of the unlawful transmission of wagering information and of running an illegal gambling business. Paul Phua’s Las Vegas attorney, David Chesnoff, denied the web link to crime that is organized said that Phua would fight the charges.
‘ This is a very sophisticated, 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 a known person in the gang, was ordered to post $500,000 bail. Both defendants were ordered to be electronically monitored and also to stay on home detention into the custody of a regional physician whom had befriended Phua senior through the poker community. According to Chesnoff, several poker players, including Andrew Robl, were rallying around to help post Phua’s bail, with Robl apparently prepared to pay $1.5 million.
Among the group was another poker player, Malaysian Seng that is national Chen, 56. In April 2012, Yong placed fourth in the Asian Poker Tour Manila for $ 439,379, coincidently per year before Phua also placed fourth in the same tournament. 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 face up to five years in prison. As well as the wrath of the Triad.
Bart Tichelman Daughter Charged in Bing Executive Overdose
Bart Tichelman’s daughter Alix was faced with voluntary manslaughter in the loss of A google executive. (Image: Shmuel Thaler/AP)
Medications, prostitution and the death of a major executive that is corporate like the elements of a made-for-TV film. However in this case, the story is all too real, and also possesses surprising connection to the world 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 for the ensuing overdose. Hayes died on 23, 2013 november.
That cost was handed down in Santa Cruz Superior Court last week, along with fees of possession, management and transportation of drugs, along with destroying evidence, engaging in prostitution, and agreeing to prostitution. Tichelman would not 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. Safety footage from Hayes’ yacht, the ‘Escape,’ presumably shows Tichelman stepping over Hayes’ human anatomy and ingesting from a glass of wine without doing any such thing to aid him after she had presumably inserted him with the ultimately fatal heroin overdose. Fingerprints on the glass of wine helped to identify Tichelman, as did her distinctive tattoos, which she had shared on social media reports.
Tichelman had been arrested week that is last police lured her to a Santa Cruz hotel. Reports say that police led her to trust that a client that is rich willing to pay her $1,000 for sex.
While the present fee linked to Hayes’ death is manslaughter, the situation could get even worse for Tichelman should the investigation turn up more evidence.
‘then we’ll certainly evaluate that when that’s presented,’ said prosecutor Rafael Vazquez if the evidence shows that murder can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. ‘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 could be the daughter of Bart Tichelman, the CEO of SynapSense, a firm that is folsom-based manages Internet data centers throughout the world. He could be also a poker that is successful with more than $430,000 in profession tournament earnings. Most of that came in one major cash: 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, also cashing in a World variety of Poker event within days gone by couple of weeks.
Alix Tichelman once was linked with Dean Riopelle, a lover that is former died just two months before Hayes. Riopelle passed away of the heart attack, but police are now reportedly reopening an investigation into his death while the circumstances were nearly the same as 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 who ended up being convicted of the manslaughter that is voluntary of girl whom died after a lethal dosage of heroin.
Tichelman was understood for modeling under the pseudonym of AK Kennedy, and once said she enjoyed modeling because it permitted her to play a character. She also saw herself as an author and poet, often posting dark poems to Facebook and other social news sites.
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