This is the way the casino ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
An auction to detonate the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City didn’t happen, but tickets to watch the spectacle were sold at $10 apiece, and the venue imploded at 9:08 a.m. Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
About 16,000 viewers watched via the city’s webcam, and a witness posted the video on Twitter.
Trump Plaza was the first of three casinos owned by the former president before his gambling businesses in Atlantic City went bankrupt.
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To many of the failed venue’s unpaid contractors and suppliers, and the Democratic mayor of Atlantic City, Marty Small, the demolition of Donald Trump’s former treasure was much welcomed.
“His tenure here ended horribly,” Small said in an interview with the Times last month.
The Trump Plaza opened in 1984 and brought with it promises of high rollers and marquee events. Trump’s casinos originally employed thousands of people and generated tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue.
However, a series of bankruptcy filings led Trump to cut ties with the casino in 2009. Trump Plaza closed for good in 2014 and the billionaire investor Carl Icahn acquired it out of bankruptcy in 2016.
[NYT] — Sasha Jones