ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The owner of Tropicana casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, nearly five months after New Jersey regulators stripped the Tropicana Casino and Resort of its license.

Tropicana Entertainment LLC said it plans to continue operating its remaining properties throughout the country, including the famed Tropicana Casino and Resort on the Las Vegas Strip, and will keep current staffing levels.

The company was buffeted by a chain of events that began Dec. 12 when the New Jersey Casino Control Commission determined that the company was incapable of running the "first-class operation" required by state law and stripped the Tropicana in Atlantic City of its casino license after less than a year.

Scott C. Butera, the company's president, called the filing "an opportunity to take a breathing spell," get its debt under control, and move forward.