The company owns Trump Plaza, which is closing in a week, and the Taj Mahal, which has been experiencing cash-flow problems and had been trying to stave off a default with its lenders. The company said the Taj Mahal could close Novemebr 13 if it does not win salary concessions from union workers.
It is the fourth such filing for the struggling casino company or its corporate predecessors.
The company filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, saying it has liabilities of between USD 100 million and USD 500 million, and assets of no more than USD 50,000. It missed its quarterly tax payment due last month, and says it does not have the cash to make an interest payment to lenders due at the end of the month.
It said cost-cutting negotiations with the main casino workers' union have stalled and the company is preparing notices warning employees the Taj Mahal may close.
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Donald Trump owns a 9 per cent stake in the firm, but neither controls it nor has any involvement in it. He is suing the company to remove his name from the properties, which he says have fallen into disrepair and do not meet agreed-upon standards of quality and luxury.
If the company makes good on its threat to close the Taj Mahal, it would further rock an already shell-shocked casino market in what just a few years ago was the nation's second-largest gambling market after Nevada. Now, New Jersey has fallen behind Pennsylvania.
Trump Entertainment has struggled since the day it emerged from its last bankruptcy in 2010, having filed the year before. It came out of bankruptcy with USD 350 million in debt, and currently has more than USD 285 million in debt.