Wind Creek Bethlehem, the former Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, has announced that there will be some disruptions in gaming operations as the company transitions its branding. On May 31, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians closed on its purchase of the property, on the historic site of the Bethlehem Steel plant, from Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The casino’s website said upgrades and improvements to Wind Creek’s systems and branding will lead to disruptions on the gaming floor, beginning with live table games, which began switching table currency last week to Wind Creek-branded chips.
The casino was slated to take around 1,200 slot machines out of service August 26 for a system upgrade. Around 2,000 machines will remain in service, although free play will be unavailable until the upgrade is complete. The casino said free play will return around 2 p.m. on the 26th.
Signs around the property have been changed to Wind Creek Bethlehem, and work continues to replace the Sands sign on the black ore bridge in front of the property.
The Poarch Band has earmarked $15 million for rebranding over the next few months, and plans to invest $340 million to update and expand the property.
