Benny Binion Poker Profile

When Lester "Benny" Binion passed away at age 85, the poker community lost one the greatest members of their group. He was born and raised just north of Dallas, Texas, and he never had any formal education due to health problems as a young child. Instead, he learned the horse trading business from his father. At 17 he began running moonshine and was convicted twice for it. He then turned to gambling, which was also illegal at the time.

In 1931 Binion was convicted of murdering Frank Bolding who made an aggressive move towards during an argument. Binion got off with a two sentence since Bolding was known in the penal system. When Binion murdered another lottery number operator who drew a gun on him first, he was acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. By the early 1940s, Benny Binion was the reigning mob boss of the city of Dallas, but when the gangsters from Chicago moved into the city after World War II, Binion gave up and moved to Las Vegas.

In 1951, Binion opened the Westerner Gambling House and Saloon, his first casino in the city. He purchased the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel the same year and Binion's Horseshoe Casino was opened. Players flocked to the casino because Binion allowed high betting limits. His crap table was set at a limit of $500 which was ten times more than his closest competitor. Even though he received death threats because of his policies, he stood fast and the rest of the Vegas casinos were forced to raise their limits to keep up with him.

Benny Binion took care of his customers and he was the first to offer carpeted floors, limousines for customer pickup and player comps. Binion offered these to all of his players regardless of their bankroll. Tax evasion however hounded Binion and he served more time in jail, having to sell his share of his casinos to pay for his legal costs. His family bought his shares and regained full control of the casinos once again in 1964. The casinos gambling licenses were in someone else's name due to him being banned from holding a gambling license after his jail time. He stayed on the payroll as a consultant.

The holdings of the casinos stayed in the Binion family until 2004 when it was bought by Harrahís after having serious financial difficulties and almost going bankrupt. Harrah's retained the name in honor of the man.