The legislation assumed $100 million from the satellite casino auctions. The first four have already generated $119.5 million, with Penn National’s first-round $50.1 million bid for York County being the largest.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe fifth auction stalled, however, as the PGCB received zero bids from the remaining qualified Category 1 and 2 casino licensees. The bidding now opens to the state’s two Category 3 resort casino permit holders, with the next auction scheduled for Wednesday, April 4.<\/p>\n
Sands Folds on Mercer, Pennsylvania<\/b><\/h2>\n
Sands Bethlehem won’t be making another satellite casino bid this week. Instead, company officials will be before the gaming regulatory board in hopes of petitioning the state to renew its casino license for another five-year period.<\/p>\n
The renewal is critical for Las Vegas Sands, parent company to the Eastern Pennsylvania casino resort, as it’s entered into an agreement to sell the property for $1.3 billion to a Native American group in Alabama.<\/p>\n
Sands has largely been viewed as a model community and state partner since it opened in 2009. The casino has helped revitalize the former Bethlehem Works steel site, and provided critical tax revenue in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
Sands has reportedly been looking to sell its Pennsylvania casino for at least a year in order to free capital to invest in Macau and potentially Japan. But the Keystone State legalizing online casinos likely did no favors in keeping Sands since its billionaire owner Sheldon Adelson is the most prominent supporter of banning internet gambling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Pennsylvania county that was deceived into thinking it had been bid on to locate a satellite casino within its boundaries still hopes to welcome a gambling venue, but local leaders admit those odds now seem slim. Mercer County in Western Pennsylvania learned in February that Sands Bethlehem had bid $9.9 million with the state’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":74360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,18,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Pennsylvania County Bluffed for Casino by Sands Still Wants Gambling<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n