{"id":10358,"date":"2013-01-18T14:51:53","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T22:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10358"},"modified":"2022-12-25T04:17:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T12:17:27","slug":"adelson-fleeing-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/adelson-fleeing-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Adelson fleeing Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back when Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> was waffling over the completion of Sands Bethlehem<\/strong> and rattling its tin cup for joint-venture partners, I suspected that Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> had lost his stomach for the project and would probably sell it<\/a>. \"\"Sands has even been hinting at it for the past 18 months<\/a>. At a rumored $1 billion, a price which may be more than the market can bear<\/a>, Sands would probably just about recover the project’s construction cost. According to the Lehigh Valley Morning Call<\/em>, Adelson spent $800 million on the place … but the price tag had hit $743 million<\/a> long before the hotel was completed, the outlet mall built, etc. The company carries the property at a book value of $944 million and has been known to subtract gaming equipment and the price of Pennsylvania<\/strong> casino license from the project cost (as though one could open a casino with neither a license nor games). Its current ROI appears to be in the 11.5%-13% range. But Sheldon’s got a long and ultra-costly international wish list<\/a>, so he’s evidently selling today to pay for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Adelson had incautiously bragged that his then-slot parlor would generate 17% ROI (that was without<\/em> table games). It didn’t come close and Adelson has smarted unduly ever since, even calling the casino a “mistake.” In a convenient fit of amnesia<\/a>, Bethlehem<\/strong> Mayor John Callahan<\/strong> lauded Sands by asking, “What other casino company could have continued building the way they did right through the recession<\/em>?” Actually, Your Honor … they didn’t<\/a>. But hey, what’s history? And unless Steve Wynn<\/strong> or Bart Blatstein<\/strong> suddenly gets a hankering to buy in Bethlehem<\/strong> rather than build in Philadelphia<\/strong>, Sands appears to be taking soundings in a shallow marketplace.<\/p>\n