Taj Mahal casino that bears Trump’s name is closing, and investor Carl Icahn says he lost US$100m

Donald Trump has been gone from Atlantic City for years, but his name has lived on in glowing neon on the facade of a casino he no longer owned.

But later this year, the Republican presidential nominee’s name will disappear from the seaside gambling resort — along with 3,000 jobs.

The Trump Taj Mahal casino, opened 26 years ago by Trump, announced Wednesday that it will shut down after Labor Day. The business now belongs to Trump’s friend and fellow billionaire Carl Icahn, who decided he can no longer support a casino losing millions of dollars each month amid a crippling strike.

Icahn said Wednesday he has lost nearly US$100 million on the Taj Mahal in the past 18 months, including money he spent to keep it afloat during bankruptcy court before he even owned it.

“It was a bad bet,” he said. “How much good money do you throw after bad?”

Atlantic City’s main casino workers union has been on strike against the Taj Mahal since July 1. On Thursday, the strike will become the longest in the city’s 38-year casino era, eclipsing the 34-day walkout the union staged against seven casinos in 2004.