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Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority pressed state regulators Tuesday to investigate Donald Trump's opposition to a planned $330 million tunnel project being sought by rival Mirage Resorts Inc.
The agency asked the state Division of Gaming Enforcement and the state Casino Control Commission to determine whether Trump had engaged in "anti-competitive behavior," funding anti-tunnel lawsuits, encouraging others to sue and using his economic clout to stop highway projects that benefit other casinos.
"Where the exercise of free speech becomes actions which are only a guise for anti-competitive activities by a casino licensee, gaming enforcement and the Casino Control Commission should take appropriate action," development authority Executive Director James Kennedy said in a three-page letter to Frank Catania, director of gaming enforcement.
A Trump spokesman called the complaint "ludicrous."
Trump, chairman of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, has fought bitterly against the state's plan to help finance the connector linking the Atlantic City Expressway with the marina district site where Mirage and two other Las Vegas companies plan casinos.
Last month, he filed suit in federal court to stop the tunnel deal, naming the development authority as one of the defendants.
He has opposed public subsidies for Mirage, including a 150-acre parcel the city agreed to give the company in exchange for Mirage moving a public works yard from the site.
If gaming enforcement finds Trump's actions constituted anti-competitive behavior, the Casino Control Commission should order Trump to cease and desist, Kennedy said.
DGE spokesman Keith Furlong declined comment on the complaint Tuesday.
Bradford S. Smith, chairman of the state Casino Control Commission, declined comment because the case could end up before him.
"The division will perform whatever investigation it feels is appropriate. If they feel there's cause to file a complaint, we would hear the case and make a determination based on the evidence," Smith said.
Sanctions could include fines, a cease-and-desist order or revocation of Trump casino licenses.
Trump spokesman Alan Marcus said Trump welcomes Mirage and other companies who want to build casinos here, but only if the playing field is level.
"The only anti-competitive practice that's taken place in Atlantic City is the CRDA providing a $120 million subsidy to a private developer to the detriment of existing casino operators," Marcus said, alluding to last week's CRDA vote authorizing $120 million for the tunnel project.
He said Trump has invested $2.2 billion in Atlantic City and that he toughed it out when the market was not as rosy, whereas Wynn left in a huff in 1987, citing oppressive state regulation.
"All that CRDA has been doing is helping a developer blight a middle-class, stable, black neighborhood, which is going to be sacrificed so a private driveway can be built at public expense to a casino's front door," Marcus said.
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