Trump Entertainment Resorts made the filing in US Bankruptcy Court in Camden, New Jersey, four days after the real estate mogul, whose name remains on the company and its three seaside gambling resorts, resigned as chairman of its board.

Frustrated about situation

Trump was frustrated that bondholders and their allies on the board rebuffed his offer to buy the company and take it private.

"Other than the fact that it has my name on it - which I'm not thrilled about - I have nothing to do with the company," Trump told The Associated Press Tuesday.

He acknowledged being sad over the end of a venture that was so publicly and relentlessly associated with his name and image.

Yet he said the company "represents substantially less than one per cent of my net worth, and has for some time."

"If I can't manage something, it's not for me," said Trump, who still holds 28 per cent of the company's stock.

The company has US$2.06 billion in assets and more than US$1.74 billion in liabilities, according to its court filing.

All three of the company's casinos will continue to operate as usual during the bankruptcy proceedings.

Filing three times for Chapter 11 protection is uncommon in American business, according to Harlan Platt, a professor and bankruptcy expert at Northeastern University in Boston.

Sell out

The casino company's current incarnation, Trump Entertainment Resorts, was born of a prior trip through bankruptcy that ended in 2005.

Trump Entertainment's three casinos are the Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and Trump Marina Hotel Casino, which is to be sold this spring to a company led by Richard Fields, a former protégé of Donald Trump. Juliano said the bankruptcy filing will have no effect on the Trump Marina sale.

In the meantime, Juliano stressed that all three Trump casinos will be open for business as usual, and customer loyalty programmes will remain in effect.

"This is a restructuring, not a liquidation," he said. "Vendors and employees will be paid, customers will have winning bets paid."

He said the company is not seeking debtor-in-possession financing, and has enough cash on hand to fund its current operations.

The company skipped a biannual US$53.1 million debt payment that was due last December 1 and started negotiating with its bond holders on a refinancing of $1.25 billion in debt. Those talks were extended four times before they ended with yesterday's bankruptcy filing.

Trump acknowledged the company has limited rights to use his name, but hinted he may seek legal action to force them to stop using it.

His daughter, Ivanka, whose image has been increasingly used to market the casinos, also resigned from the board last Friday.