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Here's some Binion information for those interested.

I posted this in response to another thread, but figured I'd post it here too in case there were others that had any desire to know anything about Ted Binion, or the Binion family, that may not browse that far down in the other thread.



To add a bit to Bear's lesson about Binion.

There are basically four famous Binions. (two are now dead)


Benny Binion - Was owner and founder of the "Horshoe" Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. A notorious gambler, he migrated from Texas to Vegas to open his casino, which was the first ever to offer No Limits on Betting. As long as it was your first bet, you could lay down a million dollars or more if you wanted to on a hand of blackjack or craps. Now one can do this anywhere, but it was unheard of in the late 40s and 50s. He was also responsible for the creation of the now uber famous World Series of Poker

Jack Binion - One of Benny's sons, who eventually helped him run the casino. He was later forced out by his sister....

Becky Binion - took control of the horshoe from Jack. He maintained the rights to the horshoe's name OUTSIDE of Nevada, and created another horshoe that turned into a billion dollar enterprise. Becky ran the old horshoe into the ground, and it was shut down last year by the FBI for non payment of employee union health and retirement fees, and for not having enough cash on hand to continue play. The horshoe was aqquired by Harah's last year.

Ted Binion - Benny's other son. Was murdered by his stripper girlfriend Sandra Murphy and her OTHER boyfriend, Rick Tabish. Sandra handcuffed him and sat on his chest while she forced liquid heroin down his throat so it might look like a drug overdose. Tabish was caught trying to empty Ted's vault in Pahrump Nevada, of all its silver. (where your dollar was once stored). The attorney that originally signed on to defend her was Oscar Goodman, who dropped out of her case and became the Mayor of Las Vegas. (he still is) The silver dollars from the "binion hoard" were pretty much all taken from the casino floor by Ted, who for years and years grabbed any silver that went through the doors and saved it as his own in a vault. He also had racks and racks of 5000 dollar horshoe casino chips stored out there.


The family saga is an amazing one, and if you'd like to learn more about it, or about the World Series of Poker, pick up a book called "Positively Fifth Street" by James McManus. Fantastic book he wrote about his experience playing in the WSOP and simaltaneously covering the Binion murder trial. (Murphy and Tabish were convicted, and McManus made the final table).

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