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StumbleLas Vegas Sands denies report it plans to sell casino
Monday, March 1, 2010 | 7:34 a.m.
Sheldon Adelson
Las Vegas Sands Corp. today denied "rumors" that it plans to sell its Pennsylvania casino because of disappointing results there.
The Express-Times newspaper in Pennsylvania on Saturday reported that, according to a source, the Las Vegas company hopes to sell its Bethlehem casino.
But Las Vegas Sands said today in a press release it's applied to add table games to the 3,250-machine slot parlor and is preparing to resume construction on a 300-room hotel there.
"Las Vegas Sands Corp. said today that recent rumors of the company's supposed interest in selling its Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem property, or indefinitely delaying the completion of the hotel and other components of the development, are unfounded," the company said in a statement.
With $4.5 billion in net revenue in 2009, Las Vegas Sands collected most of that in Macau and Las Vegas and is preparing to open a $5.5 billion resort in Singapore. The Bethlehem casino, which opened in May, produced $141.8 million in revenue last year.
"With the addition of table games, Sands Bethlehem will become the most complete and convenient gaming destination for millions of New York City and northern New Jersey residents and, at the same time, enhance the profitability of the property starting in the foreseeable future," Las Vegas Sands Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson said in today's press release.
He said the company would assess restarting construction on the remaining aspects of the development, including 200,000-square-foot retail space and 50,000 square feet in multi-purpose facilities, while it prepares for table games and the resumption of construction on the hotel tower.
Development of the project, other than the casino, has been on indefinite suspension because of economic conditions.
Located at the historic Bethlehem Steel Works, Sands Bethlehem is also expected to be home to the National Museum of Industrial History, an arts and cultural center and the broadcast home of the local PBS affiliate, Las Vegas Sands said.
As of Dec. 31, the company had booked construction costs of $628.6 million for the project.
Las Vegas Sands said today it expects to pay another $27 million to add table games, including the $16.5 million license fee.
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Once Wynn opens in Philadelphia and Aqueduct starts the slots in NYC, Sands Bethlehem will be in serious trouble. The East Coast gaming industry dollar is getting stretched too thin. Not that states that continue to legalize and expand gaming seem to notice!
Sheldon Adelson is both on the verge of bankruptcy, and huge financial success at the same time. the BK part are his holdings in the US. His holdings in Asia however could explode into huge profits from their booming economy. My guess is that he will sell off all of his domestic properties, and put all of his focus on these new ventures on the other side of the world.
Steel town that once built the world now selling made in China shimp cocktails, thanks nafta, thanks Gatt.
mred :
NAFTA is the single most destructive thing EVER to be lobbed upon the American people and American society as a whole. It needs to be reformed and if possible recalled!!!
I voted for bubba twice but he blew it with NAFTA.
environprotector, Who will buy his U.S. Holdings? WHy would anyone buy an entity that is going BK? Enlighten us...
hippo :
Harrahs (a joke.. sort of..)
just don't sell to harrah's!!!
To build the Palazzo was a huge mistake. The Venetian alone was big enough !
To environprotector and mred - seriously you're blaming NAFTA for the lack of gambling on the East Coast? The NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE ACT has nothing to do with the downsizing of the markets on the East Coast .....unless you're specifically and only blaming Mexican cheap labour for all your woes - but as one of you mentioned CHINA, that leads me to believe you're confused as to who's in NAFTA to begin with. Blame China all you want for the influx of cheap goods and the "Walmartification" of the country - but to toss out NAFTA in one of your little blurbs?? Canada is part of that agreement and we've got nothing to do with these shenanigans!
Sheldon is a Donald Trump in disguise. He knows a lot about conventions, but nothing of how to run a Las Vegas casino or competition in the trenches.
I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree with American Gaming Guru's comment more.
I doubt very much that Either Wynn in Philadelphia or Aqueduct racetrack in N.Y would have any impact on Sands Bethlehem
First, Aqueduct will only be equipped with VLT's so why would anyone that is presently traveling to Bethlehem to go there where you already have Yonkers close by with the same thing. If anything they might GO to Bethlehem for the table games.
As far as Wynn in Philadelphia without a plan for a hotel?
One would think that if anything the draw there would take away from Parx already in Philadelphia, Harrah's Chester PA. or even Atlantic City.
If one looked at statisics you would see that it was Sands Bethlehem that drew away business from other areas including the Poconos and from having been there numerous times, they seem to be doing ok
If Perhaps these new location had something to offer maybe but then the question would be, what is it? I personally don't see it
What an ugly, ugly man!
Sheldon Adelson looks a lot like the villain Goldfinger in the James Bond movie of the same name. Check out the uncanny resemblance at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auric_Goldf...
Adelson and Goldfinger: separated at birth?