Sands Bethlehem wants to launch electronic table games in Pennsylvania

Las Vegas Sands wants to introduce Macau-style live dealer electronic table gaming to its Pennsylvania casino property Sands Bethlehem.

On Tuesday, Sands reps gave an informal presentation of their proposal to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). The stadium-style electronic table games (ETG) seat up to 150 gamblers at a time but require only four to eight live humans to deal cards or spin roulette wheels. Bettors place their wagers on up to four different games simultaneously and are paid any winnings electronically via individual terminals connected to the ETG.

Such ETG have proven wildly popular with casino operators in Macau, where the government has instituted a hard cap on the number of traditional live gaming tables in operation. The ETG have allowed Macau operators to skirt the table cap while also keeping costs down by requiring fewer dealers. Pennsylvania has no market-wide table cap and Sands Bethlehem is already the table game revenue leader, eclipsing its closest rival Parx Casino by a significant margin.

On Tuesday, Sands President Mark Juliano told the PGCB that, should the ETG plan be approved, Sands Bethlehem would need to relocate around 122 of the its slot machines but the casino would “not be decreasing our slot or table games count from their current configuration.” Juliano also sought to assuage concerns that the plan would involve staffing reductions, saying Sands would need to hire 50 additional staff, including 20 to 25 dealers.