Carl Icahn is making a play for a hotel-casino that is down on its luck. Following months of anticipation, the billionaire and activist investor made a USD 200.0 million offer to acquire the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City on Tuesday, demonstrating how poorly the gaming industry has fared over the last year amid the economic downturn. Year-earlier bids for the struggling casino were closer to USD 1.0 billion.

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn may be rolling the dice again on an Atlantic City casino. The former owner of the now defunct Sands Casino Hotel is among parties who may offer to buy the troubled Tropicana Casino and Resort once it’s offered in a bankruptcy auction. Attorney Gilbert Brooks, representing Icahn and other secured lenders who hold a USD 1.4 billion mortgage on the casino-hotel, says Icahn and others are willing to make an offer as a so-called stalking horse.

Los Angeles (Reuters) - New Jersey casino regulators said on Tuesday that negotiations were under way to sell Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort to real estate developer Cordish Co for cash and securities totaling USD 700 million. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission said in a statement that the trustees overseeing the property -- retired state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein and investment bank Moelis & Co -- had identified Cordish as a leading bidder...

Atlantic City - How much is the Tropicana Casino and Resort really worth? It may take a bankruptcy auction to find that out. Normally, bankruptcy carries the stigma of failure. Not so in the casino industry. It has been used with success by gaming operators in the past, and now it appears Tropicana is heading in that direction to complete the casino's tortuously slow sale.

Atlantic City, New Jersey - The trustee overseeing the sale of the Tropicana Casino and Resort wants to reject all the bids made for the casino so far and start over in soliciting new buyers. In a letter to the commission, retired state Supreme Court justice Gary Stein also asked the state Casino Control Commission on Thursday for another four months to complete the sale process. "The best approach is to reject all outstanding bids and to re-start the sale process," he wrote.

Atlantic City - The Tropicana Hotel Casino's state-appointed conservator said Tuesday that he and his financial advisers received "multiple expressions of interest" from would-be buyers. "We are very pleased with the level of interest that has been expressed by potential buyers, notwithstanding the uncertainties in the financial markets," said former state Supreme Court Justice Gary S. Stein. The lending crunch may have scared off some potential investors.