PA poker players can now play in stylish new digs in the Lehigh Valley. Wind Creek Bethlehem has finally unveiled a revamped room with added amenities, after operating with a temporary poker room since October of 2021.
Opened in late December, the room is located across from the Table Games Salon in the corner of the casino floor. The new poker room features 20 tables and a dedicated cashier’s cage inside the room.
Wind Creek Casino has also upped their game with some special amenities like complimentary beverages, table-side massage service for those tense moments and an upgraded lounge for players waiting for a spot at a table.
New poker room opens with promotions
This month, the new PA poker room features $250 and $300 High Hands every half hour, six days a week. The time frame varies each day. Here is this month’s weekly schedule:
- Mon. – Wed. $300 High Hand every half hour from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Thurs. $250 High Hand every half hour from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Fri. $300 High Hand every half hour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sun. $250 High Hand every half hour from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
No tournaments are currently scheduled at Wind Creek. Find the poker room schedule on Wind Creek’s website.
Wind Creek casino $340 million expansion still underway
Wind Creek Hospitality finalized their purchase of Sands Casino in 2019 for a sum of $1.3 billion and announced their plan to invest another $340 million in upgrades and expansions.
As the first phase of the project, over 200 rooms have been added in a new hotel tower, along with a 42,000 square foot convention space. The new ballroom boasts 23,000 square feet and can accommodate a wedding or event with up to 500 guests. The Spa at Wind Creek is slated to open inside the new hotel early this year.
The second phase will include another hotel, next to a 300,000 square foot adventure and water park at the existing No. 2 Machine Shop industrial site. Wind Creek hasn’t released a timeline for the next phase.
Wind Creek poker room was late to bounce back from 2020 restrictions
Restrictions that were imposed due to COVID-19 had a particularly significant impact on PA’s poker rooms, as they remained closed when casinos reopened their doors later in the year. But eventually, by 2021, many of the rooms were back in action.
Wind Creek kept theirs closed, using the space to offer high-limit slot gaming, presumably to capitalize on the higher profit margin of the automated games.
Previously, in 2020, a Wind Creek employee speaking on the condition of anonymity told PlayPennsylvania,
“Wind Creek does see the value in the poker room, but I think right now they’re trying to recover from the major financial hit they took during the 3.5 months we were closed up. The client base of the poker room really enjoyed playing at Wind Creek.”
Wind Creek waited until October last year to finally open a temporary poker space.
New poker room is yet another growth area for the casino
The new poker room joins Wind Creek’s 150 table games that recently set a record for the highest monthly table games revenue of any PA casino. In July, Wind Creek’s table games brought in $23.6 million. That figure was a 42% increase over the revenue made in July 2021.
The casino also boasts 183,000 square feet of gaming floor that features over 2,000 slot machines, live dealer stadium gaming and a retail sportsbook operated through a partnership with Betfred.
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