The Bethlehem Sands Casino Resort opened in July of 2009 despite delays because of demolition problems with the building torn down on the property. It was supposed to open in 2008 but no one expected the old steel building that occupied the space to be built quite so well. It was built where a steel plant used to be.
Phase I included the building of the casino and a hotel built at about $350 million on 126 acres. The casino has an industrial look to honor the steel town and consists of 3000 slot machines. Table games may be coming soon if approved by Pennsylvania legislature. The hotel has 300 rooms.
Bethlehem Sands seems to be taking revenue away from the long time Mount airy Resort and Casino at least that is what it looks like with August statistics collected from the Pennsylvania Gaming control Board. Mount Airy brought in $17 million in August of last year and was down to $14 million while the sands after only 3 months of operation grossed $20 million.
Another casino opened during the summer of 2009 is the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This casino does not have a hotel but does have several restaurants including Ciao, Grand View Buffet, West End Cafe, and Andrews Steak and Seafood. This has caused tax revenue from slot play to increase. Tax revenue from these slot machines is earmarked to lower property taxes for homeowners in the state.
The Sands has petitioned the state to add more slot machines as business is brisk. They didn’t know how many more they would need but said it would be less than 2000. They hoped to have them installed and running by the end of November.
There are plans for adding to the Bethlehem Sands. A convention center, 10 story hotel and shopping mall are planned but when that will be added is up in the air at this time. It will depend on when the economy starts to recover and credit markets improve. They would need financing to continue building and in this economy they do not want to chance the extended project. Currently the Bethlehem Sands has several restaurants including Emeril’s Chop House, Cobalt Cafe, and St. James Gate Irish Pub and Carvery.
In the last few weeks of summer the Sands had a promotion to win a limited edition Corvette. The Labor Day drawing had all of the 300 slot machines in use all the time. People were waiting in line to use the slots that day. After the drawing it took almost 90 minutes to get out of the Sands’ 7 story parking deck.
Estimated revenue from August 31 to September 6th while the promotion was in force is about $59 million. This enabled the Sands to be the fourth busiest casino in the state. The Sands is doing better than the new Pittsburgh Rivers Casino that was supposed to do better. Both casinos have contributed to a 19.8% increase in gross revenue for Pennsylvania.
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