Every day, hundreds of Asians sell their Sands Bethlehem casino free-play cards

Every day, hundreds of Asians sell their Sands Bethlehem casino free-play cards moments after stepping off the bus from New York — a phenomenon that has brought cultural change to the Valley.

The endless hum of whirling slot machines washes over the food court at the Sands casino in Bethlehem, as Yuli Cui of Flushing, N.Y., reads a Chinese newspaper.

Huddled at a table with her friends, Cui, 50, plucks a tangerine from the bagged lunch she brought from home. She’s been to the casino hundreds of times over the past three years and, like almost every other time, she’s doing her best to kill five hours until her bus returns.

Sometimes she walks the scenic path through south Bethlehem or visits the bookshop at Lehigh University, and sometimes she window-shops at the Sands outlet. But one thing she almost never does is gamble.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-sands-bethlehem-asian-bus-20140329,0,846212.story#