Friday, April 02, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Binion's Horseshoe reopens

New owners hope to put casino's troubles behind it

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman addresses a crowd gathered Thursday in front of Binion's Horseshoe before the casino reopened. Photo by Clint Karlsen. People on the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall head into Binion's Horseshoe after the casino reopened Thursday. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

With all the hoopla downtown Las Vegas could muster, Binion's Horseshoe reopened Thursday, 3 1/2 months after being closed by deputy U.S. marshals in a raid on its cash cage.

Showgirls from the Rio and Harrah's Las Vegas pranced, The Keystone State Boys Choir from Philadelphia sang, and Mayor Oscar Goodman and Harrah's Entertainment Western Division President Tom Jenkin cut a ribbon to let a thousand-plus customers rush in to play the slots and tables.

"This is about as good a day as it gets in Las Vegas. Not only do we have the Horseshoe back, but they've got great employees back," Goodman said.

The Horseshoe had been closed since the night of Jan. 9, when deputy U.S. marshals, accompanied by Gaming Control Board agents and armed with two court orders, seized more than $1 million from the cash cage and forced the shutdown of the casino and hotel.

But on Thursday, the property's recent troubles were history, with Goodman joking he would have moved back to Philadelphia had efforts to reopen the Horseshoe not succeeded.

"This is critical to the success of the future of Las Vegas. Success breeds success and, in a year and a half or two years, downtown is going to be the first stop for visitors," he said.

Bert Cabalza, a bartender at the Horseshoe for almost 42 years who was working again for the first time since the Horseshoe closed, summed it up best for many of the hotel-casino's 930 on-duty workers, most of whom are former workers returning to the property.

"Everybody won. I'm excited because the Horseshoe is No. 1 downtown. The Horseshoe is the main one. That's why I stayed here all these years. The people are so nice to me. It's a good thing (it reopened). Everybody has to go downtown and the Horseshoe will always be there," Cabalza said.

Cabalza said he's looking forward to working with his fellow employees to return the Horseshoe to its grandeur and success of yesteryear, a hurdle that he says won't be as high as it looks from the outside.

"What made 'em slow down was when Becky took over," Cabalza said about former owner Becky Binion Behnen. "They used to have people come in from all over the country who were high rollers. When she took over, they cut off these people, said no more freebees. So they took off and didn't come down there any more."

Harrah's Entertainment, which is running the Horseshoe, and Chester, W. Va.-based MTR Gaming Group, which owns it, have promised to restore the property's quality service while preserving the ambience of the downtown landmark.

Rita Jaraczeski from Great Falls, Mont., who has been going to the Horseshoe for 31 years, said she's in love with the Horseshoe, and, with it reopened, she and her husband, John, are thinking of moving to Las Vegas.

"We missed the place. This is my favorite hangout, and I hope the machines are still as loose as they were before. And it sounds like the new owners are going to do good by all the people who come here all the time," she said.

B.J. Walsh, a former worker, said he's also been a customer, except during a few wars, since the Horseshoe opened.

"Old man Binion gave me my nickname. I liked his casino then, and I like it now. And having it is good for downtown. People come here from all over the country just to see it," he said.

MTR Gaming Group bought the 52-year-old hotel casino March 11 for about $20 million. Harrah's will retain the World Series of Poker and rights to the Horseshoe brand name in Nevada for the remainder of what has been estimated to be a $50 million deal, mostly in the form of assumed liabilities.

The three-way agreement also calls for Harrah's to operate the Horseshoe for at least one year, with options to extend the management agreement with MTR for up to two more years.

Jenkin, who is overseeing the Horseshoe's management, said he was "ecstatic" to have one of the world's most famous casinos back up and running, to have Horseshoe employees back to work and to be a part of the revitalization and success of downtown Las Vegas.

He said, however, that Thursday's ribbon-cutting at the hotel-casino was just the beginning with the opening of the World Series of Poker to follow in three weeks.

"With national and international interest in poker at an all-time high, this year's World Series of Poker is sure to be a record-breaker. We're looking forward to building on the rich legacy of the poker world's biggest event," Jenkin said.

This year's World Series of Poker, which kicks off April 22 with a no-limit Hold'em tournament for casino employees, is expected to be the largest and richest ever, Jenkin said.

Harrah's has committed to holding the final two events of the 2005 World Series of Poker, both to be broadcast, at the Horseshoe, but the preliminary events are expected to be held at another Harrah's property in Las Vegas, probably the Rio, which Jenkin also oversees.

After that, the poker series is expected to move to another Harrah's operation in Las Vegas, ultimately to be housed at a new megaresort on the Strip.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, professor and casino industry expert Bill Thompson has suggested turning the historic property into a combination museum and hotel-casino once the poker tournament moves out of the Horseshoe.

Thompson said it would be fitting, given the landmark's iconic status in the history of the gaming industry. Such a museum would be a big draw for downtown Las Vegas and could draw serious gaming players and curiosity seekers to the new Horseshoe, he said.

Lester "Benny" Binion, who fled a life in Texas in 1946 that was rumored to have involved murder, bootlegging, numbers running and bookmaking, founded Binion's Horseshoe on Fremont Street in 1951 after a partnership in the Las Vegas Club broke up.

Binion styled his casino like an old-fashioned Mississippi riverboat with low ceilings, red-velvet wallpaper and soft lighting that Harrah's has preserved today.

He was famous for being on-site, in the casino or coffee shop every day, and knowing most of his customers by name.

The smell and feel of the place today is the same as it was then: all about gambling.

Customers didn't go to Binion's for Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley, but to gamble.

Records at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas show that when Binion opened the Horseshoe in 1951, other local casinos did not accept a craps bet over $50, but he accepted $500. Binion called it, "a lot of gamble for their money."

Other operators reportedly retaliated by threatening his life; Binion responded by doubling the odds on craps.

There were no private, high-roller pits for the wealthy; everyone had a chance to take their best shots, a tradition preserved in the World Series of Poker.

Binion was eulogized by Las Vegas when he died at the end of 1989.

His widow died in 1994, and the estate was settled with son Jack, who had been an active partner, getting 43 percent, son Lonnie "Ted" 20 percent and two surviving daughters, Becky Behnen and Brenda Michael, 19 percent each.

When Jack Binion ventured to the riverboat business in Tunica, Miss., in the mid-1990s, Becky Behnen sued charging gross neglect, mismanagement and purposeful diversion of family money.

In 1998, Jack Binion bought out his brother and other sister, and then sold the lot to Becky Behnen for $20 million and a two-year pay off timetable.

She took charge in 1998 and closed the baccarat room; she fired the porters, the poker manager, his chief assistants and the race and sports book director.

Old-timers claim the place was never the same, and, after years of rumors about financial problems, it was closed early in January in the cash cage raid.