Future dim for Taj Mahal and former Revel casinos in Atlantic City

The prospects for Atlantic City's crumbling casino market are worsening.

All sides scrambled to regroup from the collapse Wednesday night of a deal to sell the former Revel Casino Hotel to a Canadian firm. About 3,000 jobs would be lost in a shutdown.

A Delaware bankruptcy judge scheduled a hearing on whether the parent company of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort should be liquidated. Trump Entertainment Resorts has said it will close the casino Dec. 12. The liquidation hearing is set for Dec. 4.

The judge says he'll consider whether the bankruptcy case should change from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

And looming early next year is a widely expected bankruptcy filing by Caesars Entertainment, which owns three of Atlantic City's eight remaining casinos.