What you need to know about the Indian tribe buying Sands Bethlehem

By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com

Alabama's Poarch Band of Creek Indians splashed into Pennsylvania's gaming scene in a big way with their announcement Thursday that they plan to spend $1.3 billion to buy the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.

The 3,000-member tribe is the only federally-recognized tribe in the state of Alabama, operating as a sovereign nation.
Until recently, the Poarch Band's Wind Creek Hospitality owned only three casinos on tribal land in Alabama featuring over 2,600 games, but no table games.




lehighvalleylive.com file photo






How does Alabama have casinos if they're illegal?
Alabama greatly restricts gambling and table games are illegal, but the tribal casinos take advantage of the fact that paper bingo is allowed.
The tribal Wind Creek casinos offer class II games, essentially electronic bingo on games that look very similar to slot machines with flashing lights and spinning reels, on tribal land. This means the tribe pays no taxes to the state, getting to pocket all of its profits.
This has long put the tribe at legal odds with officials at all levels of Alabama government.
In 2015, the tribe was successful enough it offered the state a $250 million budget bailout as part of a gambling pact proposal, according to the Associated Press.
The tribe has long wanted to expand into blackjack and other table games as well as slot machines -- defined as Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
The state would then share in that revenue, something the Poarch Band has long been open to doing, according to AL.com, our sister site.




Rick Smith | AP photo

The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is king of table games in Pennsylvania, operating 230 tables and 3,000 slots machines. The casino brought in $539 million during the most recent fiscal year.
The Sands' killing at table games has made it Pennsylvania's top performing casino in terms of table games, usually just behind Parx Casino in Bucks County in terms of total revenue.
Prior to a rumored sale to MGM last year, the casino had been pursuing a $90 million expansion that would've added a new gaming area with 1,000 new seats.
While the Bethlehem casino is one of the Sands' smallest holdings at 159,000-square feet, it would be one of Wind Creek's largest properties.





Who are the Poarch Band of Creek Indians?
The Poarch Creek are descendants of a segment of the original Creek Nation, which once inhabited nearly all of Alabama and Georgia.
The tribe's ancestors lived along the Alabama River, in areas from Wetumpka south to the Tensaw settlement, according to the tribe.
The Poarch Creeks were never removed from their tribal lands and have lived together for almost 200 years in and around their reservation in Poarch, Ala. The reservation is eight miles northwest of Atmore in rural Escambia County and the tribe operates under its own system of government and bylaws.
The tribe opened its first 1,500-seat high-stakes bingo hall in Escambia County back in 1985, a year after it obtained federal recognition.
Through Wind Creek Hospitality, the tribe manages three gaming halls in Alabama: Wind Creek Casino & Hotel in Atmore, Wind Creek Casino in Wetumpka and Wind Creek Casino in Montgomery.