The Brown & White

Every student at Lehigh likely remembers the first time they drove into South Bethlehem and saw the abandoned Bethlehem Steel complex.

Many students also likely remember the first time they heard the property had been bought and would turn into a massive casino, hotel and convention center.

Who would've thought, after all the project's difficulties that the property could be abandoned - like it was when Bethlehem Steel went bankrupt - so quickly after the casino opened and before the rest of the projects were even completed?

If it seems like only yesterday when the casino first opened; it's because it practically was. Memorial Day 2009 brought with it the promise of a new hotspot on the South Side, as well as the 1,000 jobs for local residents promised by Sands Bethlehem President Robert DeSalvio in an April 24, 2009 article in The Brown and White.

Those jobs might be lost if and when Sands is sold. A recent article in The Express-Times reported the Las Vegas Sands Corporation is seeking to sell the Bethlehem casino.

If you feel like we've been played, that's completely understandable. It's like casino management bluffed us into believing they had a flush when they were really only holding a low pair. Their promises of a tourism boom and economic benefits to other South Side business ring hollow.

Now, we'll just have to wait and see how much of the pot they'll walk away with.

Editor's Note: The Sands Casino Resort recently issued a press release stating that "recent rumors of the company's supposed interest in selling its Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem property, or indefinitely delaying the completion of the hotel and other components of the development, are unfounded" and that the company will assess restarting construction on the rest of the development while it prepares for table games and resumption of hotel construction.