Bethlehem, Mount Airy hit jackpot!

Sands Bethworks plans to open in summer 2008 with 3,000 slot machines. Mount Airy Resort plans a late 2007 opening, also with 3,000 slots. Slot machines and a multi-million dollar tax windfall are headed to Bethlehem and Monroe County, thanks to votes cast in Harrisburg this morning.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board picked Sands BethWorks, on former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land in the city's southside, for a slots license today. It also picked Mount Airy over competitor Pocono Manor.

In earlier testimony to the state Gaming Control Board, Sands BethWorks promised to spend $600 million and open its doors with 3,000 slot machines in the summer of 2008, and eventually expand to 5,000 slot machines.

The bulk of the project -- proposed for 124 acres of the old Bethlehem Steel plant -- would not actually redevelop the rusting steel buildings that sprawl across South Bethlehem. It would turn the ore bridge into the casino's entrance, refurbish the high house, and stabilize and light the blast furnaces.

The rest of the money would go toward constructing buildings for a casino, retail shops and restaurants on vacant land near the Minsi Trail bridge.

"We are honored to be granted this opportunity," said Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. in a news release. "We aim to produce a development so outstanding that the people of Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will all be proud to call it their own."

"This development will provide tremendous economic opportunity locally and really represents the beginning of a new era for the Lehigh Valley," said Bill Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands in the release. "But the real beauty of this development is its ability to pay tribute to the heritage of Bethlehem Steel and allow the industrial giant to secure its place in history as a great American icon."

Also today, the board picked Mount Airy Resort over Pocono Manor. Mount Airy proposed a slots casino in Paradise Township. Pocono Manor's would have been located in Tobyhanna Township.

Mount Airy developer Louis DeNaples had little to say as he left the meeting in the company of a priest. "I thank God for the opportunity to get this license," said DeNaples, who also thanked his family's support.

In earlier testimony, representatives for the Mount Airy Resort promised to open their $400 million project in late 2007 with 3,000 slot machines and 400 hotel rooms.

In granting the license to Sands BethWorks today, the board rejected Allentown's competing proposal for a slots casino on former Agere Corp. land in east Allentown.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who attended the gaming board meeting this morning, issued a written statement:

"I am of course disappointed that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board failed to recognize the merits of the … Aztar proposal, which I believe to be the perfect fit for both Allentown and the Lehigh Valley."

Pawlowski said the revenues generated from the slots would have helped revitalize the city, which he said is facing "daunting" fiscal challenges.

He congratulated Bethlehem's mayor and Sands on winning a license, but offered assurances to Allentown residents. "I want to make it clear to the residents of Allentown that this is merely a disappointment, not a defeat." Allentown will not come away empty-handed.

Thanks to an agreement crafted by a group of Lehigh Valley politicians, who agreed Pennsylvania's winner-take-all system of awarding host fees was neither fair nor acceptable to Lehigh and Northampton counties, Allentown is in line for more than $3 million of the estimated $15.6 million in city and county host fees.

Earlier today, a group led by billionaire developer Neil G. Bluhm and Connecticut-based Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation won licenses for casinos along the Delaware River in Philadelphia.

Finally, the board awarded one slots license in Pittsburgh to Majestic Star, which would build in the city's North Shore area.