Binions Hotel and Casino to Close
By Joe Casino for JoeCasino.com · December 4, 2009
Say It Ain’t So, Benny: Former Home of the WSOP to Close
When the legendary Binion’s in Las Vegas begins shutting down their operations mid-December, they will be boarding up 35 years of World Series of Poker (WSOP) history. And while this landmark was surely showing signs of wear—the WSOP hadn’t been held there since 2004—Vegas has no tolerance for the aged and aging, unless of course they are sitting plunking quarters into a progressive slot machine.
Most blame the economy. Las Vegas has seen room rates drop almost 25% this year, and rooms are still going empty. Casinos are reporting an 11% decrease in profits. The Sin City economy is wheezing along like a mall walker with emphysema. High hopes are linked to the opening of the first phase of the sure to be fabulous City Center just in time for the ho-ho-ho holidays.
Ahh, but the old Binion’s Horseshoe, man that was a one-of-a-kind place for poker players back in the days when visiting road gamblers swarmed the place, outnumbering the squares and hicks, 10-1.
Binion’s was truly Doyles Room. Johnny Moss, Stu Unger, Puggy Pearson, Bones Berland, Bobby Baldwin, Lakewood Louie, Hans “Tuna” Lund, Chip Reese — all the greats hung out there, won there, went busto there, and so too did the hotel, in the end.
Guys like Benny Binion were Vegas, are Vegas. He got his start in bootlegging, then graduated to running numbers and craps games in the rough West Texas oilfields, until a couple of justified shootings in self-defense forced him to turn his back on the increasing violence and move to Vegas 1946. A few years later in 1951 he opened the Horseshoe. That’s the short version of his history.
The Horseshoe was one of the first casinos in Vegas to offer poker. The World Series of Poker came later in 1970. Johnny Moss was the first bracelet holder, awarded the title “best all-around player” by a player vote. The next year 7 players posted a $5000 buy-in. By 1982 the WSOP had grown up, the buy-in had become $10,000, 13 events were held, including the introduction of the ladies event.
Through the 80s it continued to grow, and Binion’s Horseshoe became the center of the universe for poker, until Benny bought the farm on Christmas Day in 1989. No one knew it then but that began the long slow decline that led to the Horseshoe changing hands several times, a loss of the WSOP, downtown growing seedy, the fat lady singing.
Vegas is a city well-known for feeding on itself, a developer’s dream town, with million watt attention deficit disorder architecture screaming, “Look at me now.” The past? What’s that? The past is for suckers.
It all eventually fades. Goodbye Binion’s. Make a good hand.
