The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board delayed an expected May 15 vote to approve the $1.3 billion sale by Las Vegas Sands Corp. of its Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem to Wind Creek Hospitality, an arm of Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The vote to give final approval to the sale will now be pushed to the June board meeting.
Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach told the Lehigh Valley Live website that board members are still reviewing the internal investigative report on the sale of the property. “Board members are not prepared to take a vote on it as of yet,” he said.
“I understand they have to do their due diligence,” Bethlehem Mayor Bob Donchez told the news site. “From my point of view, the transfer is very important to the city of Bethlehem. (Wind Creek has) already committed to future development on the site.”
Wind Creek, which recently revealed it will pursue a sports book for the Bethlehem property—to be renamed Wind Creek Bethlehem—has pledged an immediate infusion of $90 million in improvements upon closing of the ale, beginning with a 300-room hotel expansion and redevelopment of the historic No. 2 Machine Shop, part of the former Bethlehem Steel plant on which the casino property is built.
