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Pennsylvania’s biggest casino, Sands Bethlehem, may be sold to MGM, sources told the Morning Call late Thursday.
"We have been told today that Sands Bethlehem has a potential buyer; it is a sole buyer interested in purchasing the property," Mark Juliano, Sands Bethlehem president, said in the note. "The sale is not imminent, and there is a lot of work that still needs to be done before a sale is final."
The company is in the midst of a $90 million expansion that would add restaurants, slot machines and table games.
Parent company, Las Vegas Sands Corp, released the following statement: "Las Vegas Sands is regularly approached about potential interest in various assets. The company has no announcement to make at this time."
The casino is owned by casino billionaire and GOP mega donor Sheldon Adelson.
It is widely believed that Adelson’s disdain for unions could be the root cause for the acquisition rumors.
Just last week, 146 Sands security guards in Bethlehem made history by becoming the first in a casino empire of 50,000 workers to ratify a union contract, the Morning Call noted.
Adelson has worked hard to keep unions out of his Vegas properties, mostly by paying employees higher wages than the unionized casinos.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
