Come and get it: Sands to give away free cash on final night

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, (609) 272-7258
Published: Wednesday, November 8, 2006

ATLANTIC CITY — The Sands Casino Hotel will be giving money away on its final night of business. Really, it will.
Lucky gamblers will be showered with more than $200,000 in free cash Friday from progressive slot machines that have not yet paid off their jackpots. The Sands has to dispose of the “unhit” jackpots before the casino closes its doors for good Saturday.

The cash giveaway will be held every half hour between 4 and 8 p.m. Friday, meaning eight people will be chosen as winners. To be eligible, gamblers must insert their Sands player card in any slot machine at least 15 minutes prior to the sweepstakes drawings. A computer will randomly select the winners.

“The sweepstakes is our way of saying thank you to our customers and friends for 26 years of great memories,” Sands President George Toth said.

The Sands, the city's smallest casino, is being shut down to make way for development of a $1.5 billion megaresort by its new owner, Pinnacle Enter-tainment Inc. of Las Vegas.

All gaming is scheduled to stop at 6 a.m. Saturday. Hotel guests will be checked out by early afternoon, and the building will be locked that night.
“I expect the hotel guests to be out of here by 12 noon or 1 o'clock,” Toth said. “That will be it.”

New Jersey casino regulators approved a series of security

and financial measures last week to ensure the Sands' orderly closing. Most of the procedures involve confidential internal controls to secure the casino's chips, markers and other gaming items. The Sands has already stopped issuing credit to gamblers.

Pinnacle Entertainment will assume the Sands' financial obligations after the casino closes. The company is setting up an office on Kentucky Avenue where gamblers may cash in their tokens, chips and winning tickets that were not redeemed while the casino was still open.

The state Casino Control Commission has granted approval for Pinnacle to temporarily use the Sands as a storage building for its gaming equipment. About 125 Sands employees will be kept on the payroll to guard the building, which will be sealed off from the public until it is demolished.

Pinnacle has not yet announced when the building will be torn down. Construction on the new casino is expected to start in 2008, with a grand opening in early 2011. Pinnacle bought the Sands for $250 million from billionaire financier Carl Icahn and is scheduled to close the deal on Nov. 17.