New lawsuit filed in ‘Tropicana’ trademark dispute

The dispute over whether the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino must pay royalties for using the "Tropicana" trademark is continuing, with investor Carl Icahn's Tropicana Entertainment Inc. filing a new lawsuit against the Las Vegas property over the issue last week.

The Las Vegas Tropicana formerly was part of Tropicana Entertainment LLC, which also had Tropicana-branded hotel-casinos in Atlantic City and Laughlin.

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No dynamite required: Tropicana opts to remodel instead

Along the strip, rumors gallop faster than hot dice scatters on a summer night in July.

That's why guests and employees had been smelling dynamite in the lounges and pits at the Tropicana for years, certainly before the Stardust and the New Frontier got blasted earlier this year. Maybe longer than that; the smart money was saying the Trop, the sad old relic of '50s Vegas Strip action, would be the next to go.

But the smart money was wrong. The Trop will live well into the 21st century because of big remodeling plans.

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Nevada officials approve Carl Icahn's control of 9 casinos as part of Tropicana reorganization

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada gambling regulators on Thursday approved billionaire investor Carl Icahn's plan to control nine casinos in four states as part of the bankruptcy reorganization of Tropicana Entertainment LLC.

The plan involves casinos in Nevada, Mississippi, Indiana and Louisiana, and still must be approved by regulators in New Jersey because the company owns assets there.

Under the plan, Tropicana is reorganizing as a publicly traded company, Tropicana Entertainment Inc., with shares owned by some 150 lenders, said company CEO Scott Butera.

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NJ approves new Tropicana ownership led by Icahn

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- New Jersey regulators approved a plan Wednesday for the former corporate parent of Atlantic City's bankrupt Tropicana Casino and Resort to operate the business again as a reorganized company owned by a group of investors led by billionaire Carl Icahn.
The state Casino Control Commission revoked Tropicana Entertainment LLC's casino license in December 2007 after finding that cost-cutting by its former owner, William J. Yung III, left the casino understaffed and dirty.

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http://www.newsobserver.com/1566/story/1663552.html

Atlantic City casinos drop to bargain-basement prices amid recession, mountains of debt

In recent weeks, the Tropicana Casino and Resort was sold for $200 million of deeply discounted debt. This week, Donald Trump, his daughter Ivanka and Dallas-based Beal Bank reached a deal to pay $100 million for all three casinos owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts, subject to bankruptcy court approval.
The sales are yet another symptom of the woes facing the casino industry nationwide.
Atlantic City and Las Vegas have been hard hit by the economic downturn, which has led gamblers to keep a tight rein on their wallets.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Distressed-NJ-casinos-selling-apf-927501296.html?x=0&.v=1

Tropicana Las Vegas emerges from bankruptcy

Tropicana Las Vegas has come out on the other side of its bankruptcy woes with a new leader and the bulk of its financial burden gone.
The Toronto-based Onex Corporation and former MGM Mirage President Alex Yemenidjian acquired a majority stake in the Las Vegas property when it emerged from bankruptcy Wednesday.
The new owners took over the property right after midnight this morning from the Tropicana’s former parent company, the Las Vegas-based Tropicana Entertainment LLC, and have promised to return the Tropicana to its “glory.”

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/02/yemenidjian-takes-reins-tropicana-las-vegas/

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Approves Offer from Secured Parties to Purchase Tropicana Atlantic City