Sands Hotel & Casino New tables, new digs, and new dining in Bethlehem

There's rarely been a reason to willingly go to Bethlehem, unless you wanna catch the Eagles in the preseason, or just have waaaay more frankincense than you know what to do with. For a place there that'll have you screaming all sorts of deities' names, get to Sands Hotel & Casino.

Originally opened as a slot hall on the grounds of the former Bethlehem Steel Works, the Sands finally decided to make itself a real-boy casino with the addition of a 300-room hotel, legit fine dining, and table games, presumably headlined by the four-legged race. Some ways they've stepped things up:

Emeril's Italian Table: Anchored by an antipasto bar crafting an assortment of salumis and apps, and featuring a dining room that peers into the kitchen via a giant window, this 170-seater's the BAM! guy's first Italian effort, which's incidentally the first time "Italian" and "effort" have ever been used together.

Table Games: There's a 23-table poker room plus more than 100 tables split amongst games like blackjack, craps, and pai gow, plus baccarat variations like mini (played on a blackjack-sized table) and midi (played with a background of hilariously basic synth sounds with a single dealer).

Sands Hotel: This tower of lodging features Queen rooms, stuffed with pillow-top beds, 42" flatscreens, and glass-walled showers; Kings, adding a two-queen guest space; Executive Suites, with rich wood-filled dining rooms plus rainforest showers and soaker tubs; and Presidential Suites, which toss in a wet bar with three stools, kinda making them the s**t.

Making this the easiest road trip of all time for, at least two dudes, Sands is giving a lucky Thrillist reader (and a friend!) a night in a two-bed Queen room, dinner at Emeril's, and a limo ride to and from, although celebrate the birth too much, and you may ride out feeling like ass.