Trump World’s Fair was a hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It was a huge enterprise, opening in 1981 as the Playboy Hotel and casino, and then becoming the Atlantis Hotel and casino.
The whole project was launched by Playboy Enterprises, together with Elsinore Corporation. The hotel and casino originally opened with a provisional gaming licence, but the licensing process was held up. Finally Playboy Enterprises sold its share of the hotel and casino, and the name was changed to Atlantis Hotel and casino.
The Hotel Also Housed a Great Cabaret
The hotel and casino complex was split into two levels. The main building housed the multi level casino, a five hundred room hotel and numerous restaurants. The other building was accessed by a skybridge from the second floor, and housed a Cabaret with seating for eight hundred, plus a few shops. In the time it was operating, the Cabaret featured great acts like David Copperfield, Vic Damone and Captain & Tennille. In 1985 the casino filed for bankruptcy, and the Cabaret closed when gaming operations in the casino was due to be ended.
The Complex Became the Trump Regency
The casino managed to continue to exist, however, but it was struggling financially. In 1989 the state rejected the renewal of its gaming licence, and placed the Atlantis complex into conservatorship. The hotel continued to operate, even when the casino closed its doors.
A month later Donald Trump bought the whole complex, investing sixty three million dollars in the business, and renamed it again, calling it the Trump Regency. A few years later ownership was transferred to the mortgage holder of the property, Chemical Bank, and a few years Donald Trump bought the Regency again for sixty million dollars. The name again changed, and this time was named Trump World’s Fair at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. It was permanently closed in 1999 and torn down a year later in spite of being only nineteen years old. One of the problems encountered by visitors to Trump World’s Fair included a pool that leaked into the lower levels of the hotel, and guests were forced to us the pool at the next door Trump Plaza.
The demolition of the building cost between three and five million dollars. The president of Trump Hotels and casinos, said that there were plans to build a 4000 room gambling complex in place of the old Trump World’s Fair, which would cost about 750 million dollars. At the time, the building site was very valuable as it was adjacent to Atlantic City’s new Convention centre.
The End for Donald Trump’s Atlantic City Hotels
The end came for all of Donald Trump’s Atlantic City hotels and casinos in 2004. Casinos began to open in various cities other than Atlantic City and Las Vegas, And Donald Trump had failed to diversify or keep up with developments. Trump Hotels and Casino resorts filed for bankruptcy, with over a billion dollars debt. Five years later Donald Trump eventually resigned from the board. The last of the casinos with the Trump name, Trump Plaza, closed in 2014.