Benny Binion
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Lester Ben "Benny" Binion (November 20, 1904 - December 25, 1989) was a well known American casino owner and poker enthusiast.
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[edit] Early history
Binion was born and raised in Grayson County, Texas, north of Dallas, but moved to El Paso when he was 17. There, he began moonshining where he was twice convicted for it. In 1928, under fear of legal consequences, he gave up moonshining and opened a numbers game, or lottery, which was also illegal. While he was in El Paso he learned to gamble, a skill that would become important in his later life.
In 1931 he was convicted of murder after shooting Frank Bolding who moved as if to attack Binion in a back yard where they were arguing. Because the reputation of Bolding was so poor, Binion only got a two-year suspended sentence. He would later kill a fellow numbers operator who first drew a gun on him. Binion was found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense.
[edit] Family
Binion and his wife Teddy Jane had five children: two sons, Jack and Ted, and three daughters, Barbara, Brenda and Becky.
Largely due to their wealth and environment, both Barbara and Ted ended up having drug problems. Barbara attempted to shoot herself and was left with a badly disfigured face, and eventually succeeded in committing suicide in 1977. Ted, banned by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1993 for his involvement in drugs, died a mysterious death in 1998. Ted's live-in girlfriend and a man she was having an affair with were each charged and convicted of murder, but the verdict was later overturned, they were retried and acquitted.[1]
[edit] Casino years
Because of his own notoriety, in 1946 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. He became a partner of the Las Vegas Club casino, but left after a year because of disagreements about limits on bets. In 1951, Benny purchased the building which had previouslly housed the Las Vegas Club and opened it as the Westerner Gambling House and Saloon.
In 1951 he purchased the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel opening them as Binion's Horseshoe casino. It immediately became popular because of the high limits on bets. Because of the competition, Binion sometimes received death threats, although eventually casinos raised their limits to keep up with him. Additionally, the Horseshoe would honor a bet of any monetary value as long as it was the first bet made.
Binion was in the vanguard of Las Vegas casinos, being the first to install carpets, the first to have limousines pick up customers, and the first to give free drinks to players. Although comps were normal for high rollers, Binion opened the door for all players.
Binion said he followed a simple philosophy when serving his customers – Good food, good whiskey, good gamble. He was more generous to gamblers than any other casino owner on the Strip.
Despite physically getting away from Texas, he still had legal troubles. He served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary from 1953 to 1957 for tax evasion related to his operations in Texas. He had to sell his share of the casino to pay around $5 million for legal costs, but in 1964 his family regained control. Benny, however, was never allowed to hold a gambling license afterwards, although he was on the payroll as a consultant.
His sons Jack and Ted would become president and manager, respectively, and his wife Teddy Jane managed the casino cage. In 1998, Binion's daughter, Becky, took over the presidency after a legal battle, and Jack moved on to other gambling interests. Becky's presidency would not turn out well: in 2004, the casino was raided by the IRS and closed for non-payment of taxes, eventually passing into the hands of Harrah's Entertainment. It now operates as Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel under the ownership of MTR Gaming Group.
[edit] Legends and legacy
In January of 1949, Binion arranged for Johnny Moss and Nick the Greek to play a head-to-head poker tournament which ended up being five months long, which Nick the Greek ultimately ended up losing a reported two million dollars over the five months. 42-year-old Moss had to take breaks to sleep occasionally, during which the Greek, then 57, went over to the craps table and played. After the final hand, and losing millions of dollars, Nick The Greek uttered one of the most famous poker quotes of all time, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."
After years of arranging heads-up matches between high-stakes players, this seed of an idea grew. Binion invited six high-rollers he knew to play in a tournament in 1970. They would compete for cash at the table, after which they would vote on a winner. Johnny Moss, then 63, was voted champion by his younger competition and received a small trophy. The next year, a freeze-out format with a $10,000 buy-in was introduced, and the World Series of Poker was born.
Binion's creation of the World Series helped the game of poker spread and become popular. He actually underestimated how popular it would become: in 1973, he dared to speculate that someday the tournament may have 50 or more entrants; the 2005 main event alone had 5619 entrants. He died of heart failure at the age of 85 on December 25, 1989 in Las Vegas. His friend and poker great "Amarillo Slim" Preston suggested as an epitaph, "He was either the gentlest bad guy or the baddest good guy you'd ever seen." He was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1990.
Benny never forgot his Texas roots and was a key player in getting the National Finals Rodeo to move to Las Vegas. He never forgot the cowboys after they arrived as he always paid all of the entry fees for all of the cowboys for their championship event. When the casino closed, Boyd Gaming took up the tradition that Binion started by continuing to pay all the entry fees.
