Icahn rescued the Taj Mahal by keeping it afloat during its Chapter 11 case and pledging to invest $100 million once he got control. The name on the front still reads “Trump,” but a different flamboyant billionaire now wants to make the Taj Mahal casino great again.Ĭarl Icahn isn’t sure whether he’ll spend the $100 million he promised to spruce up the struggling gambling hall opened in 1990 by Donald Trump, who hailed it as “the eighth wonder of the world.”īut there are certain things the new owner is doing right away to make the casino a place of his own.įirst is healing the damage that the casino’s reputation incurred during a prolonged near-death experience as it languished in bankruptcy court and repeatedly threatened to close over the last year and a half.