BETHLEHEM, Pa. - This historic town, nicknamed the "Christmas City," where steel was once king, is preparing for a seismic image shift when the $743 million Sands Casino Resort opens Friday.
Michael Horn has no doubt that the gambling hall - which will be the largest of Pennsylvania's eight casinos in size and number of slot machines - will transform his hometown, one in the midst of reinventing itself.
"It's going to add a lot of spice to Bethlehem, and maybe jump-start the economy," said Horn, 51, a musician.
But the stakes are high. For Bethlehem, it involves its sense of self, its history, its businesses, and its quality of life.
For Northampton and Lehigh Counties, the City of Allentown, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which can't build these casinos fast enough, there are shares of the revenue.
For struggling Atlantic City and the casino industry to which it is hitched, Bethlehem's casino could be devastating competition.
The seaside resort has already lost a substantial chunk of its slots business - down 16.5 percent the first four months of this year - most of it to two casinos in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Sands Bethlehem now threatens to siphon Atlantic City's most affluent customers, the ones from North Jersey and New York, who make up 45 percent of its business. I-78 will take them directly to Bethlehem.
The casino has a full-page ad in the current New Jersey Monthly magazine. A large billboard teasing its opening went up last month on the outbound Atlantic City Expressway.
"It's a New Jersey casino that happens to be in Pennsylvania," said Harvey Perkins of Spectrum Gaming Group L.L.C. in Linwood, N.J., only half-joking. "When you realize that Route 78 is a direct, low-toll road from North Jersey to the Sands' front door, you add a new dimension of convenience gaming for the North Jersey customer." I-78 has a 75-cent bridge toll versus the multiple tolls on the expressway and the Garden State Parkway, which are significantly more.
Sands Bethlehem will debut Friday with 3,000 slot machines, four restaurants, and two lounges in a soft opening to allow the Las Vegas operator to work out kinks. A grand opening is scheduled for June 9.
After six months, the casino will ramp up to 5,000 machines on its cavernous, 139,000-square foot gaming floor. The next-largest slots parlor in Pennsylvania is the recently expanded Meadows Racetrack & Casino near Pittsburgh, which measures 135,897 square feet with 3,749 slot machines.
The largest casino in Atlantic City, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, has a 161,000-square-foot gaming floor with 4,100 slot machines.
"We are the equivalent of two properties in Atlantic City," said Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands.
At its 5,000-slot capacity, the casino is expected to generate $465.3 million in annual gross slots revenue. That would be more than what the Atlantic City Hilton and Trump Marina casinos combined made on slots and table games last year ($452.7 million).
"It's going to be a madhouse around here when they open," said Bethlehem resident Debra Pittenger, 46, who owns Jackpot Amusements Inc., which sells break-open tickets, punchboards, and bingo supplies to local bingo halls and private clubs.
Still, she said, the casino will give the city of about 73,000, the state's sixth-largest, a much-needed lift.
"Because it's been so long since the last industry was there, any activity is good activity," Pittenger said.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20090517_Bethlehem__built_on_steel__betting_on_casinos.html
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