Binion's Horseshoe Casino
| Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 |
| Address | 128 E. Fremont Street |
| Opening date | 1951 |
| Theme | Vintage Las Vegas |
| No. of rooms | 366 (closed) |
| Notable restaurants | Binion's Ranch Steakhouse |
| Casino type | Land-Based |
| Owner | TLC Casino Enterprises, Inc. |
| Previous names |
Eldorado Club Binion's Horseshoe |
| Website | www |
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binion's Horseshoe, is a casino on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. The casino is named for its founder, Benny Binion, whose family ran it from its founding in 1951 until 2004. The hotel, which had 366 rooms, closed in 2009.
Benny Binion bought the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel in 1951, re-opening them as Binion's Horseshoe (also called the Horseshoe Casino). The casino's interior had a frontier flavor, like an old-style riverboat, with low ceilings and velvet wallpaper. It was the first casino in downtown Las Vegas (also called Glitter Gulch) to replace sawdust-covered floors with carpeting, and was the first to offer comps to all gamblers, not just those who bet big money. Binion also instituted high table limits. When Binion first opened the Horseshoe, he set the craps table limit at $500—ten times higher than any other casino in Las Vegas at the time. Ultimately, Binion's raised the table limit to $10,000 and even eliminated table limits completely at times, which was an immediate hit.
Unlike other casinos, the emphasis at Binion's was on gambling, not on big performing acts. The casino was also very egalitarian; there were no private pits for high rollers.
Other members of Binion's family were involved in the casino. His sons, Jack and Ted, supervised the games, while his wife, Teddy Jane, kept the books until her death in 1994.
Benny served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary from 1953 to 1957 for tax evasion. He sold a majority share of the casino to fellow gambler and New Orleans oilman Joe W. Brown to cover back taxes and legal costs. It was generally understood, however, that Brown was only a caretaker, and Benny regained controlling interest in 1957. He did not regain full control, however, until 1964.
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