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A bankruptcy judge will allow Atlantic City, N.J., to collect as much as $30 million in unpaid property taxes owed by the shuttered Revel Casino Hotel so long as the city agrees not to impose costly penalties, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In response to a request from the city, Judge Gloria Burns yesterday agreed to lift the Bankruptcy Code's shield protecting Revel from litigation and creditor collections. Atlantic City in September had asked Judge Burns for permission to sell, at a Dec. 11 auction, the rights to collect the taxes. Though the city won't be allowed to tack on penalties, the sale could still double the interest rate on the unpaid taxes to 18 percent.

Unsecured creditors are balking at Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.’s proposed bankruptcy exit plan, calling it a “charade” and a power play by Carl Icahn to preserve hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits for his benefit, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Unlike most bankruptcy plans that look to secure votes from a variety of creditors, Trump Entertainment has said that the only vote that matters is that of Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who controls the secured debt of the Atlantic City, N.J., boardwalk gambling operation. A hearing is scheduled to take place tomorrow to win a court’s approval for the voting scheme. The chapter 11 plan calls for Icahn’s companies to swap out some of their Trump Entertainment debt for a controlling equity stake in a reorganized company as well as for new debt. Additionally, Icahn’s affiliates will invest $100 million to get the ailing gambling operation on its feet, court papers say.

Ahead of a key hearing this week in the Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. bankruptcy, unsecured creditors blasted the company's disclosure statement for its chapter 11 reorganization plan as a "charade" that should not be approved by the judge, Philly.com reported on Saturday. The creditors said that the plan is designed for the "sole purpose of preserving hundreds of million of dollars in tax attributes for the exclusive benefit of [Carl] Icahn," who has a $292 million secured claim on Trump assets. Under the plan, affiliates of Icahn would trade $292 million in debt for 55 percent of the stock in the company and a $100 million note that would not require cash interest payments. Instead, the amount owed to Icahn would increase over five years, according to bankruptcy court filings. Icahn — who lost a battle for ownership of Trump Entertainment in 2010 bankruptcy — would obtain the remaining 45 percent of the company's equity in exchange for a $100 million investment. But Icahn will only make that $100 million investment if state and local governments agree to provide $175 million in aid over the next five years, including $55 million immediately after the company emerges from bankruptcy, according to the plan.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. idled 353 slot machines with names such as Top Dollar, Jackpot, Loveboat and Dangerous Beauty when it closed its Plaza casino in Atlantic City, N.J., after declaring bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Now the company is betting it can squeeze a bit more value from the slots by selling the machines and unloading the cost of securing, maintaining and storing them. The company asked Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross for permission to sell the slots for $146,650 to Patriot Gaming & Electronics Inc., with offices in New Gretna, New Jersey. That works out to about $415 each for Patriot, which repurposes and distributes used slot machines, according to its website. The slots “are no longer necessary” for business and will help “obtain meaningful value” for creditors, Trump Entertainment said in an Oct. 24 filing.

Regal Entertainment Group, which reported lower third-quarter sales and profit, said that it’s considering strategic options including the sale of the company, the largest U.S. cinema chain, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Regal, controlled by billionaire Philip Anschutz, retained Morgan Stanley to advise the board on “a thorough review of options,” according to a statement today. The company has a market value of $3.2 billion and total debt of $2.36 billion. A sale would mark the biggest deal yet in an industry that’s been consolidating for years. That’s included large operators buying family owned cinemas struggling to upgrade their circuits with digital technology and larger screens. Exhibitors have also attracted foreign investors. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the No. 2 chain, was purchased by China’s Dalian Wanda Group in 2012 and went public last year.

The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort may survive after all, but it's likely to do so with angry employees, The Associated Press reported Friday. A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Friday voided the struggling casino's contract with its union workers, giving owner Trump Entertainment Resorts a big part of its plan to keep the casino open and save its 3,000 jobs — although those workers were seething after Hon. Kevin Gross granted the company's request to terminate its contract with Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union. Trump Entertainment said that if the ruling went against it, it would close the Taj Mahal on Nov. 13. The company and billionaire investor Carl Icahn had said that the casino could not survive without shedding costly pension and health care obligations. Union members immediately announced plans to picket the Taj Mahal next Friday for three hours. Another big hurdle still remains in the company's plan to keep the casino open: getting a study commission appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to agree to massive state aid for the Taj Mahal and other struggling casinos, which is far from assured.

Attorneys have postponed a Delaware bankruptcy court hearing over Donald Trump’s fight to remove his name from a struggling New Jersey casino, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Trump is suing Trump Entertainment Resorts in New Jersey state court, demanding that the Trump name come off the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. The lawsuit claims that the company allowed the Taj and the Trump Plaza, which closed last month, to fall into disrepair, damaging the Trump brand. The lawsuit was automatically put on hold when Trump Entertainment, which is trying to keep the Taj open, sought bankruptcy protection last month. The company is fighting Trump’s request, saying it can’t afford the expense or distraction of the state lawsuit as it tries to save the Taj Mahal. A scheduled Thursday hearing was postponed Wednesday until Nov. 24.

The losing bidder in a bankruptcy court auction for Atlantic City's former Revel Casino Hotel isn't ready to fold just yet, as an attorney for Florida developer Glenn Straub has filed an appeal in bankruptcy court to try and stop the sale of the Revel to Brookfield Asset Management, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported today. Revel's management chose Brookfield as the winner with a $110 million bid earlier in October. But Straub claimed that the auction was rife with improprieties. "We believe this entire auction was done improperly, from start to finish,” said Straub's attorney Stuart Moskovitz. Among the developer's main complaints was that Revel improperly accepted a bid from Brookfield after a specified deadline. He also claims that Revel's attorneys reneged on an agreement to share information with him on competing bids, and that the casino unjustly held six hours of closed-door meetings on what was supposed to be the first day of bidding.

The bankrupt Trump Taj Mahal casino received court approval on Friday to break its labor agreement, a key condition for a rescue deal with billionaire Carl Icahn, and the union promptly announced a plan to picket the Atlantic City, N.J., hotel, Reuters reported yesterday. Parent company Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. has said that trimming $14.6 million from its annual union pension and health care costs is key to saving the casino from becoming the fifth to close this year in the seaside resort. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said during a hearing that he would approve the request and would explain his reasoning in a written opinion this week. The Unite Here Local 54 union will appeal the ruling, the union's lawyer, Kathy Krieger of the law firm James & Hoffman, told the court.

A bankruptcy judge said that he will rule on Friday whether to allow the owner of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey to shed its labor pact in order to clinch a $100 million rescue deal with billionaire Carl Icahn, Reuters reported yesterday. Parent company Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. has said that trimming $14.6 million from its annual union pension and health care costs is key to save the casino from becoming the fifth to close this year in the seaside resort. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said that he would read his ruling during a teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday. Atlantic City has lost thousands of jobs this year and Trump Entertainment has warned it could be forced to begin winding down the Taj Mahal operations as soon as next week.