Visit to Wind Creek Bethlehem PA - formerly Sands
September 18th, 2019 at 7:23:07 AM
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Friday 9/13 I made my first visit to Wind Creek in Bethlehem PA since they changed from the Sands. My last visit was 7/4, hoping they had already introduced the new chips, etc.
I live in a casino desert of Northern NJ - no local casinos. Had the voters said Yes in 2018, I'd have a casino at the Meadowlands only 21 miles from home, or 11 miles from work. Sigh...
At 78 miles, I don't go to the Sands too often. And with the new Resorts World in the NY Catskills being the closest at only 70 miles away, I've been shifting my alliegance.
I knew from watching the poker calendar on the Sands website that the poker room had stopped all tournaments in early August, only to resume on 9/16. They continued doing a high hand every day except one Tuesday in August (8/20?). I later found out that on that day, table games in the entire casino were closed from 10am until past midnight, to swap out felts and chips.
That was shocking to me. It would seem like a much better business decision just to do a few tables every day until the job was done. I mean, what was the need to do it all at the same time? Some weird PA regulation? Whatever. Slot machines remained open. It is my understanding that the stadium gaming (Roulette, Bacarat and Blackjack) also remained open, which makes sense since they are TITO terminals.
Anyway, I went this past Friday to check it out, and get my souvenir chips. The first thing I noticed was that new signs out at the entrance have been installed.
Other than signs, felts and chips, there was no real change that I noticed. Even the employee uniforms were unchanged. Note that I couldn't remember if the old uniforms had the Sands logo or not. Yeah, I could have asked, but I'm not that much of a casino nerd. Not enough to ask to take a photo either. The new uniforms had no logo.
Note that I wasn't really expecting much change. On the flip side, when I sat down at poker and handed in my Sands player card, a floor person took it and gave me a new Wind Creek card (with a new number) a few minutes later.
There was one sign that had me scratching my head. On the wall near the cage, about 12 feet up:
I mean, sure, they are obligated to cash / exchange the old Sands chips, but if they're gonna have a sign about it, why use a generic chip rather than a Sands chip? A knee-jerk thought might be that they cannot use the Sands name for some reason. Except they are all over the radio and TV (and I assume print ads) talking about how the Sands is now Wind Creek. So why not on this sign? Whatever.
I know Sands used to give poker players comps at a rate of about $1 per hour.
After playing poker for a couple hours and being down $280, I had enough. I went to the food court to get dinner, and I had enough points to pay for my $8 food court meal. So whatever points I had got transferred over.
I then played craps and got in at a good time. There were three open $15 tables and one at $25. After about an hour of playing $66 plus $4 piggyback on the inside numbers and pressing on every hit, I was up almost $700 and put about $50 in the toke box. Time to call it a night.
While playing craps, I noticed that the illuminated signs with the table limits had black tape covering the Sands logo. Sorry, no photo.
I live in a casino desert of Northern NJ - no local casinos. Had the voters said Yes in 2018, I'd have a casino at the Meadowlands only 21 miles from home, or 11 miles from work. Sigh...
At 78 miles, I don't go to the Sands too often. And with the new Resorts World in the NY Catskills being the closest at only 70 miles away, I've been shifting my alliegance.
I knew from watching the poker calendar on the Sands website that the poker room had stopped all tournaments in early August, only to resume on 9/16. They continued doing a high hand every day except one Tuesday in August (8/20?). I later found out that on that day, table games in the entire casino were closed from 10am until past midnight, to swap out felts and chips.
That was shocking to me. It would seem like a much better business decision just to do a few tables every day until the job was done. I mean, what was the need to do it all at the same time? Some weird PA regulation? Whatever. Slot machines remained open. It is my understanding that the stadium gaming (Roulette, Bacarat and Blackjack) also remained open, which makes sense since they are TITO terminals.
Anyway, I went this past Friday to check it out, and get my souvenir chips. The first thing I noticed was that new signs out at the entrance have been installed.
Other than signs, felts and chips, there was no real change that I noticed. Even the employee uniforms were unchanged. Note that I couldn't remember if the old uniforms had the Sands logo or not. Yeah, I could have asked, but I'm not that much of a casino nerd. Not enough to ask to take a photo either. The new uniforms had no logo.
Note that I wasn't really expecting much change. On the flip side, when I sat down at poker and handed in my Sands player card, a floor person took it and gave me a new Wind Creek card (with a new number) a few minutes later.
There was one sign that had me scratching my head. On the wall near the cage, about 12 feet up:
I mean, sure, they are obligated to cash / exchange the old Sands chips, but if they're gonna have a sign about it, why use a generic chip rather than a Sands chip? A knee-jerk thought might be that they cannot use the Sands name for some reason. Except they are all over the radio and TV (and I assume print ads) talking about how the Sands is now Wind Creek. So why not on this sign? Whatever.
I know Sands used to give poker players comps at a rate of about $1 per hour.
After playing poker for a couple hours and being down $280, I had enough. I went to the food court to get dinner, and I had enough points to pay for my $8 food court meal. So whatever points I had got transferred over.
I then played craps and got in at a good time. There were three open $15 tables and one at $25. After about an hour of playing $66 plus $4 piggyback on the inside numbers and pressing on every hit, I was up almost $700 and put about $50 in the toke box. Time to call it a night.
While playing craps, I noticed that the illuminated signs with the table limits had black tape covering the Sands logo. Sorry, no photo.
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ —————————————————————————————————————
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
September 18th, 2019 at 8:13:48 AM
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I’m usually there around 2-3 nights a week playing blackjack , and I haven’t noticed much difference either.
They did remove the only single 0 roullete wheel in the casino. It had been located in the high limit room. But even as Sands, they only ever opened that wheel if someone committed to a $500 per hand minimum. Now it’s 2 double zero wheels in there.
I also noticed that a bunch of table managers got promoted to pit bosses when wind creek took over.
They did remove the only single 0 roullete wheel in the casino. It had been located in the high limit room. But even as Sands, they only ever opened that wheel if someone committed to a $500 per hand minimum. Now it’s 2 double zero wheels in there.
I also noticed that a bunch of table managers got promoted to pit bosses when wind creek took over.
February 3rd, 2020 at 4:14:43 PM
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Just logged into the Windcreek app after realizing log in details are basically the same.
All they changed was adding 4 digits to your player's card number.
Does anyone know if you can use your Old Sand's Player Card on the slot to redeem free play or are all old cards invalid?
All they changed was adding 4 digits to your player's card number.
Does anyone know if you can use your Old Sand's Player Card on the slot to redeem free play or are all old cards invalid?
February 4th, 2020 at 12:47:22 AM
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Seems as though you might seek out a carpool arrangement: avoid the hassles of a formal bus system that stops and starts all over the place, but not have to bear all the driving yourself.Quote: DJTeddyBear
At 78 miles, I don't go to the Sands too often. And with the new Resorts World in the NY Catskills being the closest at only 70 miles away, I've been shifting my alliegence.
>>>>an hour of $66 plus $4 piggyback on the inside numbers and pressing on every hit,
>>>>I was up almost $700 and put about $50 in the toke box.
congratulations!
February 4th, 2020 at 12:51:53 AM
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Probably a bunch of pit bosses saw the writing on the wall and left, which allowed a bunch of table managers to get lucky.Quote: michael99000
I also noticed that a bunch of table managers got promoted to pit bosses when wind creek took over.
February 4th, 2020 at 9:15:29 AM
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wonder if my wind creek players card from aruba will work here?
Craps is paradise (Pair of dice).
Lets hear it for the SpeedCount Mathletes :)
February 4th, 2020 at 1:42:18 PM
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Quote: 100xOddswonder if my wind creek players card from aruba will work here?
I'm guessing it would depend on the slot machine and computer system for table games. If it's an older machine before the management/card change, should still work with the magnetic strip.
If the machine or comp system are all changed then probably not.
