Las Vegas Sands (LVS: 18.50, +2.21) are set to install the new casino enhancements after the gaming expansion bill was voted in favor 103-83 by the Pennsylvania Legislature. The bill has been sent to the Governor Ed Rendell who will sign the bill this week. The gaming expansion bill, which was voted for by the Pennsylvania Legislature, will allow all the casinos all over the states to set up table games. According to the recently voted gaming expansion bill, the casinos would be permitted to add table games including poker, blackjack, roulette etc, which were previously not permitted under the law. The newly added table games will surely entertain the people and will attract more and more people to the casinos, which will in turn bring in more revenues and profit to the owners and in the process, it will add immensely to the tax revenue of the government.
Table games like roulette, baccarat, blackjack, craps, poker, which are now allowed under the new law, had made Sand Casino Bethlehem to make future plans to add 80 to 100 of the 250 table games now permitted under the new law.
According to the gaming regulators, it would take more than better half of the year for the new game tables to be fully functional. A statement was released by the Las Vegas Sands on Wednesday night, which said that the expansion would greatly improve the quality of gaming and entertainment. Customers who were far away would have the luxury of having the games much closer to them. The customers form Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania would be benefited, as they would be much nearer to the game action.
Robert De Salvio the president of Sands Bethlehem said that installing table games will act as a catalyst and would pace up the restart of construction on the stalled hotel, convention center and mall, which are in the overall plans of Sands Bethlehem.
The government is going to reap a lot of benefit from the installation of the new table games in the casinos. The casinos are going to pay the government tax at a handsome rate of 16% of the gross revenue from the table games, 2% of the tax will go to the local municipalities and counties. The gross tax rate will depreciate by 2% to 14% at the end of second year The licensing fee for the larger casinos to take part in the expansion is $16.5 million. This licensing fee which is to be paid by the larger casinos to expand itself is for a short period of time. There will be hike in the licensing fee after June