Sands Bethlehem is arguably Pennsylvania's most
successful casino, but new President Mark Juliano said the $800 million
gambling complex will not be standing pat on its accomplishments.
Juliano, an elementary school teacher-turned casino
executive who took over the Sands in June, said the gambling hall is embarking
on a two-year expansion plan that looks to double its hotel to 600 rooms, add a
convention center that can handle 500 people and bring in a Bass Pro Shops that
will draw up to 3 million visitors a year.
More immediate, he's shuffling Sands' collection of
restaurants, bringing in a celebrity chef to share the casino floor with Emeril
Lagasse, and has ordered new policies to cut down on loitering by bus riders
from the Asian neighborhoods of New York.
In his first extensive media interview since arriving
from Singapore, the 36-year casino professional proclaimed that not only is the
Bethlehem casino no longer on the selling block, but it's reinvesting and
expanding so it can better contend with new competition that may come from more
casinos in New York and maybe even New Jersey.
"I'm thrilled to be here," Juliano, 59, said
from his second-floor casino office decorated with photos of the Rat Pack and
Pope John Paul II. "This reminds me of the early part of my career in
Atlantic City. We've got a lot of growth in front of us."
With not a strand of his salt-and-pepper hair out of
place, and his neatly tailored navy suit wrapped around his 6-foot-3-inch
frame, Juliano looks as if he stepped out of Hollywood central casting, but
he's not the typical casino executive.
In 1978, as Atlantic City was poised to follow Las Vegas
as the nation's next gambling mecca, the Philadelphia native and LaSalle
University graduate was a sixth-grade teacher at St. Williams Elementary. His
teacher's pay netting him just $104 a week, he decided to accept his uncle's
offer to be a waiter on the casino floor at the new Resorts Casino.
After a summer of "schlepping" drinks to
Resorts gamblers, Juliano went back to Philadelphia and — during the third day
of the new school year — told a less-than-happy principal, Sister Carmel
Regina, he was returning to Atlantic City.
"When you walked onto the casino floor, you knew
something special was happening there," Juliano said. "I wanted to be
part of that excitement. Plus, even delivering drinks cleared more than
$104."
He's had a few promotions since then. Juliano spent six
years working his way up the ranks at Resorts. He went on to work more than two
decades running casinos for Caesar's in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and Trump
Entertainment in Atlantic City, before landing at the Marina Bay Sands in
Singapore.
Like Sands Bethlehem, Marina Bay is a Las Vegas Sands
Corp. property, but it looks nothing like Bethlehem. One of the world's largest
and most lucrative casinos in the world, it includes an open-air skypark
spanning the roofs of three, 55-story hotel towers. Nearly 10 times the size of
Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, it cost $5.5 billion to build in 2010 and nets
$3 billion in revenues a year.
During his four years there, Juliano rose to become chief
casino officer, running a gambling floor that catered to millionaire table
games players who routinely made six-figure bets at baccarat tables tucked away
in private gambling salons.
He arrived in Bethlehem to find it riding through its
most turbulent period. In February, hackers breached the casino's website and
exposed personal information, including Social Security numbers of 30,000 to
70,000 employees and patrons. That was followed by the departure of popular
President Robert DeSalvio, who left to open a Wynn casino outside Boston.
Then there was word that Las Vegas Sands was negotiating
to sell Bethlehem Sands to Carl Icahn-led Tropicana Entertainment for more than
$1 billion.
The sale never happened and Juliano arrived to pick up
where DeSalvio left off. Sands remains the state's second-leading earner for
slot machines behind Parx, but it has easily out-earned the 11 other casinos
for revenues from table games like blackjack, roulette and craps for 33
consecutive months. In August, the $17.7 million it brought in was the most
ever by a Pennsylvania casino.
Since he arrived, Juliano has been frequently reminded of
the goodwill and respect DeSalvio spent five years building since opening the
casino in 2009.
"Bob, unfortunately, is a very tough act to
follow," Juliano joked.
While Juliano has not been nearly as visible or publicly
vocal as DeSalvio, he's quickly putting his stamp on the casino.
Sands will never rival Marina Bay in size, but here's a
look at some changes that have arrived with Juliano, or are coming soon:
• Expansion: Bethlehem Steel's old No. 2 Machine
Shop is slated to be converted into a 110,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops that
could draw 2.5 million to 3 million customers a year, Juliano said. In
addition, with its 302-room hotel running at more than 90 percent occupancy, a
second hotel tower will boost the number of rooms to 600. A 75,000-square-foot
convention facility would be connected to the Bass Pro Shops, giving the
complex the ability to accommodate more than 500 people for expos and
conventions. All of that still needs the approval of Las Vegas Sands Corp.
officers and Bethlehem City Council, but Juliano said construction could begin
next year, with openings coming in 2016.
• Restaurants: While Lagasse's upscale steakhouse
and hamburger eatery will remain unchanged, his Italian Table is expected to be
replaced with a Cajun-themed restaurant similar to the one Lagasse operates in
New Orleans. In addition, a second celebrity chef — an Italian chef who
specializes in home-style fare — will be brought in to start an Italian
restaurant. Juliano would not identify the chef until later this month, but
said it's not Mario Batali.
Chopstick, the casino's upscale Chinese restaurant, will
be split in half and a noodle bar will be added to the right side.
• Bus traffic: More than 50 buses a day flow in
from the Asian communities of New York, giving Sands the busiest table games in
Pennsylvania. But Juliano acknowledged the practice of bus riders' selling
their free play cards and spending the next five hours loitering in the casino
and surrounding south Bethlehem neighborhoods has been a frequent complaint by
other casino patrons. To address that, he instituted a policy prohibiting bus
riders from entering the casino with large bags, which some have used to carry
in everything from bagged lunches to newspapers to laptop computers.
In addition, he said, security guards have been
instructed to permanently evict anyone caught selling the $45 free play card
they get for riding the bus.
"We're happy to welcome all of our bus riders, but
we want them to be players, we want them to buy lunch here and we don't want
them to be dispersing into the neighborhoods," Juliano said. "We want
this place to be comfortable for everyone."
David Kravitz, a 70-year-old retired tax examiner who
rides the Sands bus from Brooklyn, said the moratorium on bringing bags into
the casino has been a shock to some riders who'd bring a day's worth of
activities with them, but he's skeptical about any crackdown on card-selling.
"No one has trouble selling their cards,"
Kravitz said. "If they've made a policy change, I haven't seen it.
Security still looks the other way."
• Table games: For the first time since table
games were legalized in 2010, Sands has reduced the size of the poker room
Other changes may include some casino remodeling.
Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez was among those who were
disappointed to see DeSalvio leave for Boston, but after several monthly
meetings with Juliano, those regrets have withered.
"He's a really good fit for Bethlehem," Donchez
said. "I'm glad the sale [to Tropicana] didn't go through. I have a lot of
confidence in what Mr. Juliano is doing. His commitment to Bethlehem is very
strong."
Though Juliano maintains a home in Haddonfield, N.J., he
spends five days a week with his wife of 34 years, Jackie, at their apartment
on New Street in Bethlehem. They have five adult children.
When asked why he left one of the world's largest casinos
to come to Bethlehem, he could have said the politically correct answer that he
was drawn to the unique atmosphere that comes from a casino built into the
former Bethlehem Steel site. Or that he saw the potential of the casino that
state Gaming Control Board members call one of their greatest accomplishments.
But his answer was simpler than that.
"Singapore's a long way away," he said.
"It's really nice to be home again."
Source: The
Morning Call
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