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This page updated
03/13/10 15:39:47
Apache Casino (Unknown owner) 124 Fremont St. 3-19-1932 through 1941 November 30th 2009 Hotel Portion of Binion's to Close
The
Las Vegas economy has struck again, this time
hitting Binion's Gambling Hall on Fremont Street.
The hotel portion of a famous downtown staple is closing in two weeks. They're also closing the Original Coffee Shop and the keno room. About 100 people will be without jobs when the 365-room hotel closes. The owners of the property say they had no other options, but to close because of the sagging economy.  Q: Is Binion's new million-dollar display the original $10,000 bills? I thought they sold them. A: Yes, Becky Behnen, when she took over Binion's Horseshoe more than a decade ago, sold off the hundred $10,000 bills in the original million-dollar display. The new owner of Binion's, Terry Caudill (who also owns the Four Queens across Fremont Street), has put up a new display of a million dollars. It's displayed in an acrylic pyramid atop a poker table in the center of the casino and consists of $270,000 in $100 bills, $688,000 in $20 bills, and $42,000 in $1 bills. The cash is viewable from 10 am to 10 pm daily; during off hours it’s locked under a stainless-steel shell. A Binion’s spokesman said that restoring the original display of one-hundred $10,000 bills would have cost $16 million or more (recently, one of the original $10,000 bills was selling on the eBay for $160,000). In the days of the original Horseshoe million, you could get your photo taken with the cash for free, but not this time around. To get a photo, you have to have a players club card registering $25 in slot or video poker play, plus you have to pay $20 for the photo print. Benny Binion, a gambler from Dallas, Texas, purchased the Eldorado Club in 1951 and changed the name to Binion's Horseshoe Club. The Eldorado Club was located at 128 East Fremont Street on the corner of Second Street in the Apache Hotel. In 1958 Benny had to go back to Texas to serve time in jail for income tax evasion and relinquished the casino to Joe W. Brown. While Benny was away, Joe Brown changed Binion's name on everything to his name. When Benny got back to Las Vegas on April of 1960, he changed the name back to just Binion's Horseshoe. The Horseshoe was the first casino in downtown Las Vegas to have carpet on the floor. Other casinos had either bare floors, or put sawdust down on them. A casino with carpet was known as a "carpet joint". In 1989, Binion's Horseshoe purchased The Mint located next door from Del Webb and incorporated it into the Horseshoe. The Horseshoe now takes up the entire city block from First to Second Streets. Benny Binion died of heart failure on Christmas Day, 1989. His daughter, Becky Binion Behren took over management, and ran Benny's beloved casino into the ground. Her poor business practices as a manager resulted in the casino being closed on January 9th of 2004. Deputy U.S. marshals entered Binion's Horseshoe armed with two court orders authorizing them to seize up to $1.9 million in cash from the casino, an action that forced the closure of the 52-year-old property's casino. Richard Winget, the U.S. marshal for Nevada, said U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt authorized the seizure to satisfy debts owed to the Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Pension Trust Fund and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union Welfare Fund.
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