Category: Gambling

Trump’s Castle Casino Resort is too much

The casino was built as the Atlantic City Hilton by Hilton Hotels, at a cost of $275 million. However, when the resort was nearly complete, that company was denied a gambling license by the State of New Jersey due to alleged ties to organized crime and sold the complex to Donald Trump. It opened in 1985 as Trump’s Castle, later rebranded slightly as Trump Castle.

After becoming president of the family real estate business in 1971, Trump renamed it the Trump Organization and reoriented the company toward building and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. After a series of business failures in the late 1990s, he launched side ventures, mostly licensing the Trump name. He and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 legal actions, including six business bankruptcies.

In 1850, present-day Atlantic City was developed into a resort town. Three years later, in early 1853, it was named “Atlantic City”.

Gambling has a long legacy in New Jersey, with the state historically being more permissive of gambling than most other states. Until they were banned in 1844, lotteries were common in New Jersey. They were used to help pay for the military during the French and Indian War and American Revolution, and help finance the construction of Queen’s College (now Rutgers University) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

Players like Telly Savalas are too smart to pay full price

In the context of casinos, comps are complimentary items given out by casinos to encourage players to gamble. Most casinos have hosts who are responsible for giving out free items and contacting players to bring them back to the casino. Most casinos now require a player to have a player’s club or similar card, so that their play can be tracked and comps awarded.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, [Telly] Savalas appeared in commercials for the Players’ Club Gold Card. These commercials were parodied by Phil Hartman on Saturday Night Live as “The Player With Yourself Club”. The line from the parody was “If you’re a player, you need to be where the action is, and when there’s no action you have to create it yourself. That’s why I’m telling you about the Player With Yourself Club.” Savalas’ commercials also inspired a skit on In Living Color, where Jim Carrey played Savalas, who wields a literal “player’s club” and knocks successful gamblers unconscious, taking their winnings, though tossing them a chip or two out of generosity.