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Posted by on Jan 9, 2014 in Blog, Las Vegas, Personal | 18 comments

Ten Years Ago Today: The Closing of Binion’s Horseshoe (Part 1)

 

binions-horseshoe-casino

 

Today is January 9th, 2014.

Ten years ago today, a Las Vegas landmark was forcibly shut down.

Binion’s Horseshoe, the crumbling ruin of a former empire and the final vestige of the Old West that had once transformed dusty Las Vegas into a neon-lit magnet of vice, shuddered its windows and padlocked its doors.  

 

The official order to close came by hand when a posse of armed U.S. Marshals barged in the front entrance, went straight to the casino cage, and presented a legal notice to confiscate all the cash inside.  Gaming operations were to cease immediately.

Federal marshals and agents from the Nevada Gaming Board ended up as the Horseshoe’s last guests.  It was a sad final chapter of what had been a ruinous downfall, a stunning tumble from being widely beloved as a true gambler’s paradise and the poker pinnacle of the world, topped by the crown jewel of hospitality.  And this was all about to disappear.  Forever.

I was there when it ended.  When everything came crashing down.  When many lives were wrecked temporarily, if not ruined for a long time.  When tears were shed.  When there was no time to say goodbyes.

The rise of Binion’s Horseshoe has been well-documented.  Today, I’ll like to share some stories about the downfall.

……………

The book of Binions still swims somewhere inside my head.  Someday, I plan on writing it.

In the meantime, here’s what happened that final fateful month at the Horseshoe.

As 2003 neared a close, I was still working as the casino’s Director of Public Relations.  The months leading up to December had been a wild ride.  Like working for the circus.  Like being part of a freak show.  There was Moneymaker and television shows and booze and brawls and the kinds of things you only see in the movies.  Only it was real.  I worked many 12 hour days, just about every day of the week.  But I also never thought I worked a single day while I was there.  That’s how fucking great my job was.

Maybe it was denial.  Perhaps it was naivete.  None of us had any idea that Binion’s Horseshoe, with doors that had been open non-stop for more than half a century — 53 years of epic stories and ups and downs and poker world championships and million-dollar wins and movie scenes and gambling legends and stories we’ll never hear because they’ve gone to the grave — had just one month still to live.  Thirty days, and thirty nights, and the clock was ticking.  And we didn’t know it.

Right after Thanksgiving Day, Becky Binion-Behnen called an executive meeting.  We used to have our meetings on most Thursdays.  I was so tight with Nick (Becky’s gangster husband) that I didn’t necessarily have to attend the meetings.  But I went most of the time anyway.  Plus, I always liked Becky.  A lot of people really hated her, especially the older employees who remembered what a great boss Jack was, and lots more certainly disrespected her.  But at the time, I thought she deserved my respect and all the help I could offer.

……………

The National Finals Rodeo was about to come into town.  This was a huge event for the Horseshoe.  I mean, monstrous.  After all, the casino’s founder, the late Benny Binion had been instrumental in initially bringing the NFR to Las Vegas.  It was a huge event for the entire city.  Every December, normally a dead time for the casinos, cowboys flooded onto the Strip.  Many stayed and gambled at the Horseshoe, which seemed the perfect campfire for all the out-of-town cowboys.

Even so, it was my opinion (and I was dead on correct about this) that the Horseshoe was grossly mismanaging its inherent advantages over the rest of the Las Vegas casinos.  The cowboys loved us.  We were adored.  But we didn’t do anything for them.  So instead, they stayed at the corporate joints, who did even less for them, except take their money faster.

But cowboys don’t care about million-dollar chandeliers and fancy water shows.  I figured out cowboys like to do two things — listen to country music, drink beer, and dance.  Okay, that’s three things.  I also discovered that no casino in the entire city offered live country music every night of the week.  The cowboys were in town for about ten nights give or take a few and wanted a place to party, and I was determined for us to give it to them.  But first, I had to sell the idea of spending money to Becky.

Now, this part of the story might bore you a little, but stick with me.  The Horseshoe owed everyone in town money.  We were what you called deadbeats.  We had lawsuits coming out of our ass.  The house accountant was told to stop payment on all invoices.  We used to deposit our paychecks, run to the bank, and then hold our breath.  Even my group health insurance, which had been deducted from my paycheck each pay period, wasn’t funded by the company.  This was a ship taking on water fast and going straight to the bottom, and everyone in town knew it.  But we didn’t really know how bad things were.  As I said, it’s naivete.

So, I went into that Thursday meeting with three strikes against me already.  The casino was broke.  Becky didn’t want to spend a dime on anything.  And no one in town would give us credit.

Fucked.  Fucked.  Fucked.  If being fucked came on slot reels, I’d hit the jackpot.

I’ve written before about the freedom of having nothing left to lose, just like the Kris Kristopher song sung by Janis Joplin.  There’s a beauty, almost a spiritual empowerment, associated with going all out on something you absolutely know is the right play.  And I knew we had lightning within our grasp.  We just had to unleash it.  Like electricity in the palm of my hand.  Like David Copperfield, or something.  You ever felt that sure of something?  Well, that’s the way it was with me.

So, on Thursdays, the Horseshoe executives would sit around in a giant semi-circle — a horseshoe of all things.  That’s how the tables were situated.  That way, everyone could see and talk to each other while each department made their verbal report to the group.  There would be 20 people there, ranging from some of the very best people in the business who had worked up through the ranks with Benny and Jack Binion who still managed to barely hang on, as well as complete goofs who were hired because they worked on the cheap.  I guess I fell into the latter category.

When it came my time to present the weekly “public relations” update, I made my bold move.  I explained that we should remove a quarter of the slot machines (which were empty most of the time anyway) and install a giant dance floor right in the middle of the casino.  Then, we’d construct a special stage with lights and a sound system.  Then, hire a live band to play for two straight weeks.  Then, bring in troughs of ice-cold beer and sell long necks for $1 a pop.  Then, bring in smoked bar-be-cue and serve it up right there next to the dance floor.  Oh, and then we’d set up 60-70 tables.

I think I could have brought in a goat and screwed it right in front of them and they wouldn’t have been more shocked.

One thing you have to understand about all this is appreciating why it was so ridiculous.  There’s an old-style philosophy in gambling that you never — I mean NEVER — take out gaming devices.  You just don’t do it.  Never mind that some department might make more money with space, you NEVER take out a gambling device, no matter what.  You might change machines around or movie tables from one place to the next.  But you never remove them.  That’s GAMBLING 101.  And that’s precisely what I was proposing.

Every department was stunned.  Some of the execs were smiling.  I swear I heard a few laughs.  Not good.  Everyone would have to pull together to make all this work.  Food and beverage would have to cook a shitload of bar-be-cue.  And it had to be good bar-be-cue because the cowboys would surely know the difference.  You’re not going to fool them with shitty bar-be-cue.  The bars would have to undercut the prices of the beer cost everywhere else.  The slot department was furious because this would kill their department’s bottom line.  Maintenance hated this because they would have to renovate the entire place and probably work overtime.  Oh, and let’s do this right before the holidays.  I didn’t have many friends on staff by that time, but with that bold stroke, I might as well have written my own obituary.

But I had a powerful ally.  A few actually.

Nick Behnen absolutely loved my idea.  He’s the heavy who allegedly killed two people (in self-defense, of course) and who really ran things from his living room and a telephone three miles away (because he couldn’t get a gaming license).  Poker manager Warren Schaeffer, who was from Montana, loved it too.  We were pals, and Warren got it.  He knew the score and understood what cowboys were after.  He knew my idea was pure gold for the casino and every department in it.

So, thanks to Nick and Warren, we got the deal approved.  Even Becky kinda’ liked the idea after she thought more about it.  At the very least, she said, it would be fun.  Binion’s Horseshoe was going to turn into a country-western bar for a few weeks for the first time ever.

“Holy shit,” I thought to myself at the time.  “We should have done this years ago!”

By the way, I know I’m right about that, too.  If they had gone that route, I think the casino would have created its own niche.  I’m talking year around.  Who knows, they might even still be open for business.  Imagine how that might have changed poker history.

……………

Here’s where things really get interesting.

So, we were going to transform the whole place into a shit-kicker joint.  I knew the cowboys would blow the doors off the place.  But first, we had to hire a good country-western band.

Oh, shit.

Where are we going to find a band on such short notice?

Did anyone stop to think that hiring a country-western band might not be quite as easy as everyone thinks?  Where do you go to hire a band, only a few weeks away from night one?  Aren’t all the good bands in town already booked?

I presume most readers know my personal preferences and background.  I love music.  But picking and choosing a country-western band might as well have been going into rocket science.  Like asking me to design the space shuttle or something.  What does a good country band sound like?  What does a bad country band sound like?  I’m the one in charge of talent?

I asked around and was advised to go visit some of the local country-western dance places where they had live nightly music.  So I dragged Marieta — who knows even less about country-western music than I do (she’s from Romania) — and we went out to a few country bars, looking for the best “talent.”  I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more out of place.  At each stop, I approached the lead singer during the break and asked, “So, are you available from December 4th to the 16th?”

No.

No.

No.

Are you joking?

We’re already booked.

That was pretty much all I heard.  Everywhere.  The only place that was interested turned out to be a Mexican band, which turned out to be mariachi music, somewhere in North Las Vegas.  I don’t think the cowboys would have gone for that.  Nothing against Mexican music.  But these folks were the pitchforks on anti-immigration, and they sure as shit wasn’t going to dance to a bunch of trumpets played by guys dressed in black velvet.

After a week of desperation, I finally reached my end.  Talk about fucked.  I’d successfully sold the idea to the Horseshoe.  Every department was planning this lock and step in accordance with my instructions.  Becky was excited.  Nick was counting on big crowds.  Everyone was talking about the rodeo.

And I had no band.

READ:  More on the final month of Binion’s Horseshoe

18 Comments

  1. If you ever do write that book, and I hope you do, I will be among the first to read it. Thanks as always for sharing these stories.

    • I worked in Vegas as a craps clerk 21 dealer boss for 16 yrs. I knew Teddy. Delt to him a few times on craps when I worked at the four greens. Always had a couple ladies with him. Once when I was playing 21 at Binions He was in the pit and came by my table I was playing on a couple times and made the dealer bust on purpose. The second time he did it Becky I think it was saw him do it and came over and chewed Teddy out. They got into quite an argument over it right there in the middle of the 21 pit. Yelling at each other in front of everybody. Just saying.

      • NOLAN REPLIES:

        Great story, Mike. Thanks for sharing.

        — ND

  2. I love everything you write about in this blog, but I must admit these stories from days gone by are my favorite. Can’t wait for the next part.

  3. Just love your writing style Nolan. Great read, can’t wait for the next instalment

  4. I can’t wait to read the rest of this story… I’m curious to find out if you will include Ted in your story. That must have been quite an interesting time to be there during his rise and fall at Binions and then the chatter among those that knew him surrounding his death. I hope “Part 2” is soon to follow! I love Vegas and I love Binions! I still carry a ‘cash out’ ticket from there in my wallet from a trip in November 2012. So far, your story is so well written and I look forward to reading more! Thank you for sharing this blog!

  5. All of the above! I miss the shoe! Write that damn book sir……please?

  6. +2 with Chad’s comment.
    Please write a book about the final couple of years at The Horseshoe.

  7. And perhaps the windows were shuttered as well. Never underestimate the value of proofreading.

    • Give ’em hell, Nolan!! That’s a fucking love your stuff!! To ‘Tom Collins’.. Go piss up a rope, asshole!!

      • Opps! Maybe you should delete the previous comment/reply to ‘Tom’ because I obviously didn’t use grammar check but I didn’t realize we were being monitored by the “Spelling/Grammar” Nazis.. What I meant to say was Give ‘em hell, Nolan!! That’s an excellent reply to ‘Tom Collins’ post because I fucking love your stuff!! To ‘Tom Collins’.. Go piss up a rope, asshole!!

  8. The windows were shuttered Nolan, not shuddered!!

    • Give it a rest, David Cooper. No Grammar police here! Just good reading! Take that shit somewhere else! Enjoy the blog and keep your fucking comments to yourself or move along, idiot!

  9. Nolan, I clearly remember seeing the duct tape on the carpet… strange at Binion’s that I didn’t even think how odd that was. It was that kind of place, I guess.

  10. I drifted off while reading this. Im sure that you could put some excitement into this. Im sure behind the scenes as you were you could write or describe it way better than this. Wow …I just kept reading and waiting for some juicy info to let my mind run wild. There was nothing exciting in this. Please take a writing class if you do decide Id love to read the behind the scenes from someone who experienced this life style in that casino. Some people have it some people dont. Hell I could write better than this elementary writing essay type piece you have here. Come on now you need to really step in and get this story going dude. I dont know of youve written this book yet but hopefully its better than this of what youve written here. This story would be awesome. Sorry im being so hard on you but if someone doesnt then you will not succeed. Id love to know why it went down and kept waiting for juicy stuff like how becky really was and if you seen her talking about sandy murphey or thinkingshe had something to do with teds murder which im sure she did. Thanks for that boring piece of writing dude. Great job i did close my eyes and skimmed through some sentences cause i was bored reading it just waiting for a good part

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. The Closing of Binion’s Horseshoe (Part 2) | Nolan Dalla - […] Note:  Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the closing of Binion’s Horseshoe.  Read Part 1 HERE. […]
  2. The Closing of Binion’s Horseshoe (Part 2) | Nolan Dalla - […] Note:  Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the closing of Binion’s Horseshoe.  Read Part 1 HERE. […]
  3. The Closing of Binion’s Horseshoe (Conclusion) | Nolan Dalla - […] Binion’s Horseshoe, which happened ten years ago last week (January 9th, to be exact).  Read PART 1 here and…
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  6. The Closing of Binion’s Horseshoe (Part 2) | Nolan Dalla - […] Read Part 1 HERE. […]

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