Las Vegas Sands Corp. has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Sands Bethlehem casino to an American Indian tribe from Alabama.

It’s a move that would unload arguably Pennsylvania’s most successful casino — and one of the Lehigh Valley’s largest employment hubs — to a little-known, yet cash-flush, group looking to grow.

Wind Creek Hospitality, a privately held affiliate of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama, is acquiring the property for a total enterprise value — market capitalization plus debt — of $1.3 billion, representing one of the largest sales in the Lehigh Valley’s history.

The 159,000-square-foot casino would be the largest in Wind Creek’s portfolio, in contrast to Bethlehem’s status as a relative mini in the collection of massive properties operated by Sands, the world’s largest casino company.

Wind Creek runs three smaller casinos in Alabama and has recently taken over a couple in the Caribbean. It also runs a greyhound- and horse-racing track in Mobile, Ala., and track and poker rooms in Pensacola and Gretna, Fla. It also manages the Wa She Shu Casino in Gardnerville, Nev., for the Washoe Tribe.

More on the sale of the Sands Bethlehem at The Morning Call