MGM in talks to buy Sands Casino Bethlehem, source says

MGM Resorts International is making a major play to buy the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem from Las Vegas Sands Corp., according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.

If finalized, the sale would almost certainly have a more than $1 billion price tag that would transfer arguably Pennsylvania's most successful gambling hall from the world's largest casino company to the second-largest.

Like Sands Corp., MGM has casinos in international gambling meccas Las Vegas and Macau, China, but unlike Sands, it is also becoming a bigger player on the regional casino scene as it builds an East Coast portfolio that now includes casinos in New Jersey, Maryland and Massachusetts.

Sands Casino officials visited the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Thursday to notify it that Sands was in negotiations with a buyer for the casino property, according to Gaming Board Commissioner Richard G. Jewell, who said he received an email about the talks Thursday. That came soon after Sands sent an email informing thousands of employees of the potential sale.

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