Trump’s Glitzy Taj Mahal Opens : Gambling: The real estate magnate boasts his third Atlantic City casino will break all records. Ivana and Marla are absent from festivities.

As mega-developer Donald J. Trump rubbed an over-sized Aladdin’s lamp Thursday night, a green laser beam cut through a ceremonial ribbon and his $1-billion Taj Mahal gambling complex swung open its doors.

The 17-acre gambling Mecca by the sea may be a risky roll of the dice for Trump, who already owns two casinos along the boardwalk. Although business in Atlantic City is slowing down, the developer whose name has become a household word insists that the Taj Mahal will “break every record in the book” because of its opulence.

For sheer size, no casino here compares with Trump’s latest creation, which takes up four large city blocks. Some industry observers have expressed concerns that if the Taj Mahal proves to be as successful as Trump predicts, it may ultimately devour the competition, taking business away from other Atlantic City casinos, including his own.

“This building is a winner, and it’s going to be a shot in the arm for Atlantic City,” Trump said during the opening ceremonies, as a booming sound system played the theme from the movie “Star Wars.” More than 3,000 people who had gathered in front of the huge casino cheered him, but many were visibly disappointed that he had not brought along the two most famous women in his life these days.

Neither Ivana Trump, the developer’s estranged wife, nor Marla Maples, the Georgia actress with whom he has been linked, was present at the lavish opening night ceremonies. The developer did, however, bring along most other members of his family.

“Hey, I’m crushed,” said Frank Kilgore, 33, from Brigantine, N.J., who had gathered along with other spectators on a chilly evening to await Trump’s arrival. “I had hoped that maybe when he rubbed the Aladdin’s lamp, Marla would come out of it.”

Even television host Merv Griffin, who owns the Resorts International Casino next door, seemed disappointed. He joked that “we all gathered here tonight to see who Donald would bring,” but he went on to say that the opening of the Taj Mahal was “the most exciting thing that has ever happened to Atlantic City.”

More than 2,500 reporters from around the world covered the festivities, which took on the air of a Hollywood opening as the evening progressed. Searchlights swept the grounds as Trump and others spoke, and the ceremony concluded with a huge fireworks display. Although the casino had technically opened for business earlier this week, Thursday night’s program was designed to focus maximum attention on the project.

Although the claim is disputed by gaming officials in Las Vegas and Monaco, Trump has called his latest extravaganza the largest casino in the world, covering 120,000 square feet. It contains approximately 3,000 slot machines and more than 160 gaming tables.

Outside, the gaudy complex is set off by an ersatz Taj Mahal dome, 70 minarets, Oriental arcades, fountains, balconies and pavilions. The towering casino and hotel have been likened to a gaudy wedding cake, looming over the boardwalk in shades of aqua, pomegranate, gilt and lavender.

Boosters say Trump’s palace will create 7,000 jobs and pump millions of dollars into the local economy. But Atlantic City has heard that argument before, ever since gambling was legalized here 12 years ago. Skeptics say that the casinos offer primarily low-paying jobs and that tax revenues from the town’s 12 gambling complexes have done little to ameliorate the city’s desperate economic problems.

Indeed, tourists venturing only two blocks beyond the city’s famed boardwalk find blighted neighborhoods filled with abandoned storefronts, pawnshops and bars. Junkies, prostitutes and alcoholics prowl the streets and crime is rampant. For all the ballyhoo, Atlantic City’s 37,000 residents have yet to see the massive urban renewal projects that were promised when the casinos opened.

Unlike Las Vegas and other gambling Meccas, visitors are largely confined to casinos and hotels when they visit Atlantic City and many of them take special buses in from New York, Philadelphia and other communities to gamble for a few hours and then return home. Few ever see the rundown streets and alleys that lie minutes from the glitzy gambling halls.

Can the Taj Mahal inject some punch into the local economy? Backers are hoping that the sheer opulence of the place will be a magnet for high rollers in greater numbers than ever before. In typical Trump style, the hotel and casino contain $14-million worth of Austrian crystal chandeliers. The owner has reportedly spent more than $4 million in uniforms and costumes for more than 6,500 employees, and set off the entrance with nine two-ton Indian elephants made of carved stone.

The Taj Mahal contains 1,250 guest rooms and 237 luxury suites, according to company officials. The ultimate accommodation is the Alexander the Great Suite, which, for $10,000 a night, offers guests a steam room, sauna, marble Jacuzzi, living room, bar, lounge, kitchen, pantry, master bedroom and guest bedroom.

Trump now controls nearly a third of the town’s gambling tables. But despite the hoopla, industry analysts have said that the new complex will need to make at least $1 million a day just to break even.