Donald Trump’s name is synonymous with Atlantic City casinos, and his larger-than-life personality has been part of the city for a generation. But the Donald’s introduction to Atlantic City was never a sure thing.

In 1980, the New York developer planned a hotel and casino on 4.5 acres next to Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall). But with interest rates high, financing was hard to come by. And due to regulatory hurdles, Trump did not start building his empire for years.

Trump was leery of the Casino Control Commission. It had forced Caesars World’s founders Clifford and Stuart Perlman to step down before giving Caesars Boardwalk Regency a license. It had denied a license to Hilton after the company had already built its casino. And it caused so many problems for Hugh Hefner that the Playboy founder torpedoed the Atlantis casino.

Trump refused to turn so much as a shovel of dirt until commissioners voted yea or nay on his license. In March 1982, he got his wish—and his license—in hearings that lasted two hours (by contrast, hearings for the Atlantis dragged out for two months).

Trump was still hesitant. He didn’t doubt his ability to build a top-quality hotel, but he had no experience in casinos. He needed a partner to handle the gaming end.

In the early 1980s, Holiday Inns, Inc. owned three casinos: Harrah’s Marina in Atlantic City, Harrah’s Reno and Harrah’s Lake Tahoe. Seeing a cost-effective way to grow in the Atlantic City market, the company agreed to partner with Trump. 

Trump proved a formidable negotiator. He agreed to supply the land if Harrah’s paid him to build the casino, gave him an equal share in the profits, and did not hold him liable for operational losses in the first five years. The negotiation sealed Trump’s reputation as master of the deal.

In November 1982, work began on Harrah’s at Trump Plaza. The casino—which cost $210 million—opened in May 1984. At 39 stories high, it was Atlantic City’s tallest building, and its 60,000-square-foot casino was the city’s largest. It looked to be a moneymaking machine.

The casino’s debut was not without its problems. Less than an hour after opening, a smoke alarm forced the building’s evacuation. And flaws in the slot accounting system forced the closure of several machines. These glitches foreshadowed trouble in the relationship between Trump and Harrah’s. The Harrah’s team wanted to focus on middle-market customers. The Trump side, which preferred to court high rollers, did not build a parking garage, a necessary component of the Harrah’s plan.

There were some positives. An enclosed walkway connected the Plaza to Convention Hall, and events there, including heavyweight boxing and professional wrestling, attracted casino business. But observers soon wondered if Harrah’s and Trump executives might be climbing into the ring themselves.

Behind the scenes, the two sides wrangled over the name. Was it Harrah’s or Trump? Trump won that round: five months after it opened, the casino was renamed Trump Plaza.

Tensions reached a boiling point in April 1985, when Hilton was denied a gaming license. Trump bought the Hilton Hotel, Harrah’s marina neighbor. This made Trump a direct competitor to Harrah’s bread-and-butter Marina District casino. Three months later, Harrah’s Marina launched an aggressive advertising campaign, dropping its former slogan (“The Other Atlantic City”) and renaming itself “The Better Atlantic City.” 

In fact, Harrah’s executives filed a lawsuit in federal court to have Trump’s name removed from his new hotel, which he had dubbed Trump’s Castle, on the grounds that a second Trump property would create confusion among customers. The suit also charged Trump with deliberately mismanaging the Boardwalk property and refusing to build a garage to depress its value. 

Donald Trump brushed off the suit as “disgraceful.” Phil Satre, then president of Harrah’s, claimed that Trump was attempting to engineer Harrah’s into selling its share at a reduced price, or to buy Trump’s share at an inflated price. Trump charged that Harrah’s was attempting the same thing, either by design or ineptitude. 

“I gave them a Lamborghini,” he told the New York Times, “and they didn’t know how to turn on the key.”

In September 1985, a federal judge sided with Trump, allowing him to keep his name on both casinos. There was no reconciliation between the parties, and rumors swirled that one group would buy out the other.

After months of speculation, in March 1986 Trump signed an agreement to buy Harrah’s share in the Boardwalk casino. He immediately announced plans to build a $25 million parking garage and new suites. 

Trump’s organization became the first to own more than one property outright in Atlantic City, with more than twice the casino space of his nearest rival. For the moment, he was the undisputed king of Atlantic City.

Trump Plaza, the first casino to bear Donald Trump’s name, would be no stranger to glamour or controversy in the coming years. It was a fitting fate for a property that epitomized its namesake.

By David Schwartz

David G. Schwartz (www.dieiscast.com), an Atlantic City native, is the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV and the author of several books, including Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.