Closure notices sent to Trump Plaza workers

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Monday, July 14, 2014
VIDEO: Closure notices sent to Trump Plaza workers
Job losses at Trump Plaza when the Atlantic City casino shuts down in September will be even worse than expected.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (WPVI) -- Job losses at Trump Plaza when the Atlantic City casino shuts down in September will be even worse than expected.

Trump Entertainment Resorts began mailing notices to its workers on Monday, informing them that while a final decision has not been reached, management expects to close the casino on Sept. 16.

The notice says 1,153 people will lose their jobs, up from estimates of just over 1,000 last week.

Trump Plaza has been the worst-performing of Atlantic City's 11 casinos.

It has been a tough stretch for casinos there. The Atlantic Club closed in January putting 1,700 people out of work.

Revel is filing for bankruptcy again and will close September 1st if there's no buyer, which puts more than 3,100 jobs on the line.

Showboat with their 2,100 employees will shut the doors for good next month.

Add it up and the numbers - nearly 8,000 jobs - are staggering in the struggling gaming community.

"I think casinos are closing because they don't have enough winners and people are getting fed up with losing," said Robert Cardullo.

"Atlantic City is obviously going to have to do something to revitalize itself and maybe not be so reliant on gaming and gambling," said Chris Orr.

The most recent state financial documents show Trump's revenue decline.

From January to May they made $21.9 million but during that same time in 2013, they made $29.8 million and in 2012 they made $45.5 million.

"You have so many casinos here. How can they all keep up in business," said Dianne Cardullo.

Local and union leaders are trying to figure out what's next but they'll most likely need help from lawmakers in Trenton.

"I know a lot of people aren't going to like it but you know what at the end of the day my belief is if the city can't do it then the state has enough people that can," said Issac Simmons.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.