Carolyn Kaste/AP Photo
Las Vegas Sands opened its newest casino in Bethlehem, Pa., in 2009. The $743 million casino’s architecture pays homage to the steel mill.
Friday, May 22, 2009 | 7 a.m.
About 2,500 miles away from its home base, Las Vegas Sands opened its newest casino this morning in Bethlehem, Pa.
The $743 million Sands Bethlehem is about an hour from Philadelphia and northern New Jersey suburbs and an hour and a half from New York City. The industrial design and architecture of the casino pays homage to the historic Bethlehem Steel Mill site the casino sits on.
Sands Bethlehem debuted with 3,000 slots, four restaurants -- including Emeril Lagasse’s first restaurant in the northeast, Emeril’s Chophouse -- and two bars and lounges.
Sands preserved many of the mill buildings, including 20-story blast furnaces that have distinguished the skyline for 100 years, and "the Steel's" 1,500-foot-long No. 2 Machine Shop, once the world's largest.
Citing the recession, work was halted on Sands’ master plan in October. That plan includes the development of 300 hotel rooms modeled after the Palazzo Las Vegas, 200,000 square feet of retail space and 50,000 square feet of convention space. The casino is opening without hotel rooms.
Sands also plans eventually to add a National Museum of Industrial History.
"The whole Bethlehem Steel story was the building and defending of America, and we wanted to respect that story through the architecture and design of the property," Sands Bethlehem President Robert DeSalvio said. "You've got people all over the country that have connections to Bethlehem Steel, and I think there is generally a real warm feeling that now life has been brought back."
The Pennsylvania gaming market saw tremendous growth in the last year, unlike more traditional gaming markets such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. The American Gaming Association’s annual report released earlier this week showed consumer spending in Pennsylvania commercial casinos grew 48.3 percent in the past year. The state hired 20 percent more casino workers over the last year.
The recent growth in Pennsylvania has hurt the region’s top gaming market, Atlantic City. The AGA report showed consumer spending in New Jersey casinos dropped 8.5 percent, the fourth largest decline after Illinois, Colorado and Nevada.
In April, a New Jersey Casino Control Commission annual report showed Atlantic City saw a 7.1 percent drop in revenue across the city’s hotel-casinos in 2008, compared to 2007.
Commission Chairman Linda Kassekert said the decline in revenue reflected the overall economy, as well as competition from gaming operations in neighboring states like New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Sands Bethlehem expects to draw half of its expected 5 million annual visitors from New York City and northern New Jersey, two areas Atlantic City greatly depends on for visitors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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