TRUMP, Indiana SOLD

[magoo]

This deal will be completed by January 1 2006. I certainly won't miss Trump's East Chicago Indiana management team. Now that it will be Majestic Star, maybe they will dump Trump's casino management team.

GARY | Donald Trump's casino company announced this morning it has agreed to sell its Gary riverboat casino and hotel for $253 million to Majestic Star Casino LLC. The sale is aimed at freeing up cash to reduce company debt and invest it into the company's Atlantic City, N.J., resorts.

In a statement distributed by Business Wire, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. said it expects net proceeds of $227 million from the sale. Don Barden's Majestic Star operates the adjacent riverboat casino at Gary's Buffington Harbor, in addition to casinos in Tunica, Miss., and Black Hawk, Colo. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year.

In Gary, Trump and Majestic share the Buffington Harbor docking facility and pavilion with restaurants.

Trump, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in May, needs cash to expand its Atlantic City casinos and keep up with rivals including Harrah's Entertainment Inc. The company said last year it will build a hotel tower at the Taj Mahal casino with a $500 million loan it obtained after the restructuring.

Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Interest payments on $1.8 billion of debt left the company little money to invest in its casinos as rivals such as Harrah's and Tropicana owner Aztar Corp. added hotel towers and shopping malls.

Trump Indiana generated $137.6 million in revenue last year. The riverboat has a 43,000-square-foot casino with about 1,600 slot machines and 30 table games with the capacity to hold 2,700 passengers.
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