Click for printable version
Click to send to a friend

Becky Behnen Says changes are part of effort to make downtown property more efficient.

Friday, August 09, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DOWNTOWN GAMBLING: Horseshoe makes changes

Slots replace some table games

Binion's Horseshoe has removed a number of table games from the former Mint casino area on the west side of the property and replaced them with slot machines.

Horseshoe owner Becky Binion Behnen said Thursday the changes were part of her effort to make the property more efficient.

The entire craps pit on the casino's west side, three tables, has been removed, along with several blackjack tables.

The casino also cut its east side craps pit, one of the city's biggest and often one of its busiest, from 10 tables to seven, replacing the games with other tables.

"So far it's been great," Behnen said, noting that the extra space on the former Mint side allowed room to display automobiles offered in casino promotions.

"The Horseshoe is a great place to gamble and have fun, and we'll now be able to provide more slot machines," she said.

The property is keeping more than two dozen blackjack and other table games on the west side.

The Horseshoe has long focused on its table game offerings as competitors geared their operations toward bigger and more modern slot floors.

Company executives declined to say whether the changes to the casino floor would result in job cuts, but Behnen acknowledged last month that the property would cut some of its 1,700 jobs in an effort to increase efficiency.

More changes are expected to come soon.

Asked if she would close the west-side cage and the remaining west-side tables, Behnen demurred.

"We'll have to see what happens," Behnen said.

The casino has two main table games areas, with the largest on the east side of the property.

The property earlier this year reopened its remodeled coffee shop, below ground level on in its east-side. Horseshoe executives expect the classic eatery to reinvigorate business.

Las Vegas Advisor publisher Anthony Curtis said that when gamblers think of the Horseshoe they think of the original east side of the property.

"The old timers like the east side. I don't think they'll miss the tables on the west side," Curtis said. "Going to slots, that's a sign of the times. If that's what it takes to keep the Horseshoe afloat, then it's a good thing."