After financial problems from the credit crisis and economic recession, Tropicana Casino and Resort is emerging from bankruptcy. Billionaire Carl Icahn bought the fledging entertainment casino for cheap and announced its return to the industry on Monday. Tropicana is the first major company to do so since the recession decimated the casino gaming industry two years ago.

After holding out for 27 months, New Jersey gave Icahn interim casino authorization to Tropicana. Icahn bought it out of bankruptcy last year for $200 million and expanded his empire by nine more casinos. New Jersey regulators ran the Tropicana when William J. Yung III wasn’t allowed to renew the operating license in December 2007 on account of his drastic cost-cutting measures that left the casino dirty and understaffed. The Tropicana Atlantic City Corp. created a new trust headed by Harold First, who has worked for Icahn in the past.

Icahn’s affiliates own nearly half the company and were lenders in the restructuring process. Gaming licenses have been renewed in five states. Tropicana has more than 7,500 employees around the U.S. and operates casinos in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and New Jersey. This isn’t the only casino project Icahn has been working on in Atlantic City. He is currently butting heads with Donald Trump over the ownership of three Trump casinos in the city. From 2000-2006, Icahn owned the Sands Hotel and Casino. Atlantic City’s casinos have three straight years of declining revenue due to the recession and increasing competition with Pennsylvania and other nearby states.

Tags: carl icahn, donald trump, new jersey, onlineroulette.net, pennyslvania, Sands Hotel and Casino, tropicana casino, tropicana casino bankruptcy, William J. Yung III

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