APNewsBreak: Closing date for Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal casino pushed back 8 days

The owners of Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal have pushed back the scheduled closing date for the casino.

Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press on Friday it decided to move the closing date back eight days to Dec. 20 while talks continue to try to save the casino and its 3,000 jobs.

"The Trump Taj Mahal is currently engaged in a last ditch effort to obtain additional financial assistance from Atlantic City and/or the State of New Jersey," the company said in a statement. "We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached enabling the Trump Taj Mahal to remain open."

The company had planned to close the Taj on Dec. 12.

The bankrupt Trump Entertainment and would-be purchaser Carl Icahn have been negotiating with the city's main casino union and state officials on ways to keep the casino open.

Earlier this week, state Senate President Steve Sweeney and Sen. James Whelan, a former Atlantic City mayor, introduced legislation aimed at stabilizing tax bills for Atlantic City's eight casinos and revenue for the city. The casinos would make payments in lieu of taxes totaling $150 million in each of the first two years, followed by $120 million a year for the next 13 years as long as gambling revenue stays within certain ranges. Those bills will be discussed by a legislative committee on Monday.

If the Taj Mahal closes, it would be the fifth of Atlantic City's 12 casinos to go out of business this year, leaving a total of 11,000 workers without jobs.

Trump Entertainment said Friday it has already begun cutting some workers' hours in anticipation of a closing. The company sent revised warning notices to its workers on Friday with the new projected closing date.

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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC