Icahn smarts at “punishment”; What would Donald Trump eat?

Carl Icahn is understandably umbrage-ridden about a bill in the New Jersey Lege that would prevent him from reopening Trump Taj Mahal as a scab casino. The Lightning Icahn 2 rod on the bill, which is picking up support, is its retroactivity, clearly aimed at Icahn and the Taj, although the bill would apply to any casino owner, pulling licenses from casinos that are closed due to labor disputes. “Punishing Mr. Icahn by revoking his ability to reopen the Taj or making further investments in Atlantic City for five years, as well as restricting his ability to sell the Taj is unconscionable, especially in light of his record in saving the Tropicana,” said Tropicana Entertainment CEO Anthony Rodio. The part about selling the Taj is especially interesting. Why did Icahn go to such lengths to obtain the Taj if his endgame were to flip it to a potential competitor? Icahn’s ability to keep us guessing is masterful.

* I really need to get out of the soothsayer racket because when I’m wrong, it’s big time. For instance, despite screwing the pooch in the opening of Hollywood Casino Jamul, financier Penn National Gaming found somebody (or rather, the tribe did) to provide takeout financing. Penn gets $274 million in cash upfront and out from under a bothersome debt overhang. In other Penn news, CFO Saul Reibstein is retiring, to be replaced with B.J. Fair. Reibstein is staying on to ensure an orderly transition. In other words, as Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli put it, this isn’t a “smoking gun situation.”

* Caesars Entertainment has enriched its bankruptcy offer and junior creditors are (mostly) falling into line, so this case is almost out of the woods, right? Wrong. Federal attorney Denise DeLaurent says some conditional releases from litigation potentially might not be kosher. From our perspective, even if everyone comes to an agreement it still might violate the law,” she told Reuters. We don’t normally regard bankruptcy trials as excitement galore but things could get unusually heated when Caesars goes before the court in January.

* Longtime Donald Trump gadfly Spy magazine sent two undercover staffers to Trump International to study how much flag-waving, Trump-branded product they could get. Among their discoveries: When the mogul is in residence, his gustatory preference is for Mexican food.

* In a rare case of a casino listening to its customers and giving them what they want, Jack Casino Cleveland is making $10 blackjack available ’round the clock. Previously, the game had only been offered only on a limited basis, usually when business was slow.

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