The Pennsylvania casino resort in Bethlehem, owned by Las Vegas Sands was sold for $1.3 billion to Wind Creek Hospitality in May 2019. The decision to make that sale is proving to be a sound decision for the company.

Coronavirus pandemic could have caused millions in losses

Last year, when Las Vegas Sands sold Pennsylvania casino, it couldn’t have thought about the coronavirus pandemic bringing the casino industry to a standstill. At the time of the deal’s closure, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama who runs the Wind Creek gaming unit were celebrating their businesses’ expansion. Now, they are left with a shuttered casino.

Wind Creek didn’t just have its hands on the most profitable casino of the 12 properties in Pennsylvania, it has bigger plans too. It had announced a $90 million hotel expansion project as well, which would increase the number of hotel rooms by 276. It also planned a 42,000 square feet convention space. Wind Creek also aimed to spend $250 million to transform the No. 2 Machine Shop located adjacent to the casino into a 400-room hotel and indoor water park.

All plans thwarted

Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the US. To date, the state has confirmed 33,232 cases with 1,204 deaths. In Mid-March, Governor Tom Wolf announced the closure of all non-essential businesses in the state because of which the casinos have remained closed.

The gross gaming revenue of the state dropped by 51% in March 2020. During the same month last year, casinos earned $316.27 million but that number has since dropped to $153.48 million. Some of their losses were offset because of online gaming but the damage to GGR is still huge. The GGR for April will be $0 as casinos will remain shut throughout the month. It is unclear if Wolf will decide to hold the shutdown for longer than April. If he does, then the revenue for May could also be affected drastically. It is likely that casinos won’t be among the businesses that reopen if the governor plans to allow some businesses to swing their doors open.

Sands Bethlehem, which is now known as Wind Creek Bethlehem, is the largest year-on-year losses for the month of March. Its GGR was down 71.2% from March 2019 to just $14.66 million.