Hotels - Binion's

Binion's.

Binion's Millions.

The first casino in Las Vegas to have carpet. The first casino in Vegas to have air conditioning. The casino responsible for the wall of air conditioning blowing straight down when you first enter.  The first casino to send limos to pick up gamblers at the airport. The first casino in Vegas to offer free drinks to gamblers.

The first casino founded by a guy who murdered a guy in Texas, put a million dollars cash in the trunk of car, and drove to Vegas to open a casino.

THAT's Binion's.

Another fun fact, he actually admitted to Nevada gaming regulators that he murdered 2 men, and they still gave him a gambling license. If that's how many he admitted to, just imagine how many it actually was!

He even applied for 5 presidential pardons, but never got one. Class act!

So the next time you find yourself losing $20 bucks there, or only winning $2.00 on a bonus game with a $5.00 bet, just smile to yourself and say, "that's the ghost of Benny Binion jumping up to bite my money."

Happens all the time.

Directly from their website: 

When Benny introduced the Horseshoe Club to the "Glitter Gulch" of downtown Las Vegas, a legacy was born. The Horseshoe Club became the first real gambling hall and saloon in Las Vegas and was soon recognized as the place to go for high roller action and generous comps for all players. While the nostalgic personality of the Horseshoe Club remained the same throughout the years, the property grew in both size and scope when in 1960, Benny purchased the neighboring Boulder Club. In 1988, Benny's sons purchased The Mint Hotel to double the size of the property that today, covers an entire block of Fremont Street as Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel.

Top of Binion's Steakhouse. 

I've never been, but can't wait to!

You can do a tarot card reading in the back of the casino past the cashier cage, need to do this before it isn't there anymore!

Directly from their website:

 In 1970, what began as an intimate poker game with 10 of Benny's friends evolved into the World Series of Poker that today, is one of the largest and most prestigious poker tournaments in the world. Although the World Series of Poker no longer occurs at the property, Binion's is still recognized among poker enthusiasts as the place that made poker famous. 

Favorite memory - Binion's Cafe: 

Everyone should eat here at least once. It's a right of passage. Not because the food is good, but because it used to be the only restaurant on the property. Honestly the food's not that bad, anything's better than Benny's Smokin' BBQ & Brews. 

Like a school cafeteria burger, only better! 

Spot with the absolute Coldest Air Conditioning on Fremont Street. If you know, you know. 

Temperature as cold as the slots!

Haunted Encounters - that's the name of the escort service if you get a girl straight to your door at Binion's. Or after you eat at, you guessed it, Benny's Brews & BBQ!

Side note - one day we walking on the west side of Binion's toward the Fremont canopy and we looked up to see how busted the hotel rooms looked from the street - broken windows, broken curtain rods, mattresses propped up against the windows, etc. then we saw online that hotel tower has been closed since 2009. Sounded like the owner didn't want to renovate the rooms due to asbestos. So they just let it fall to crap. It's how Benny would have wanted it. 

Although I've never stayed the night in Binion's - I definitely can't wait to! 

What?

Favorite memory - Ally Throwin' a HEATER: 

This girl threw the dice like none other. As I recall she rolled for like an hour, made everybody at the table a ton of money, but didn't know how to play, so she barely made any bets on herself at all, hence the tiny chip stack while the rest of us were rakin' it in. Don't be mad because it's over, smile because it happened.

2nd Favorite memory - Overly "Enthusiastic" Dealer: 

Same table, different night, we had this Vietnamese dealer who was so coked out he was washing the handrails down with liquid hand sanitizer every 20 seconds and absolutely yelling every number for the whole casino to hear after each roll of the dice. Good times. Good times.

49 Free Games Remaining, think I won like $25 or something off that. Welcome to Binion's motherf*cker.

By the way, have you ever noticed how many movies, music videos, tv shows, etc. film at this location on Fremont? It's all of them, the answer is all of them!

Benny's Brews & BBQ - slogan should be "Tastes worse than it looks".

They've got a pool, even I didn't know that.

#won't stop till I photograph every inch of this place

Hair style #42.

Pretty sure you get to stay in the Chairman's Suite anytime you win more than $1.49 on a slot in Binion's!

$45 is the 2nd largest slot win I've ever personally seen in Binion's. 

The #1 was a lady who won $22,000 on a Buffalo game immediately inside and to the left of the front door back in 2009. I thought about jumping in her chair and pretending I was the winner when she got up, because I was too young and stupid to know casinos had these things called "security cameras". #jackpotjealousy

Don't look up. 

Bet you didn't know these doors even existed before now. 

1 mill-e-on dollars. 

$42,000 in singles, I know who gave them most of that. Of course I know him, he is me. 

Here's my small collection of million dollar joys.

Favorite memory - Wedding Renewal Bliss: 

See the other tab on this website for 4 Queens for info on this story. Always fun to stop in for a quick pic with a million bucks. 

What else is coming soon?

They said Benny Binion was reputed to have a formal education that stopped at the 2nd grade. Tell you what, he could count to 10 good enough. And that's about the limit for how much you're allowed to actually win on a slot there. 

Back in the day they even tried to sell Binion's merchandise next to this photo op, and that lasted for about 2 days before they gave up on it. Benny would be proud of the (lack of) effort.

Favorite memory - in-laws during our Wedding Renewal Bliss visit! 

LV Bride.

Are the gloves still in play?

Shaka bro, everybody knows the Shaka

We're baaaaack!

Stealthy-money-mode.

Up close, and personal!

The next few pictures are the view from Whiskey Liquor Up, genuinely great place - and accessing the restaurant is 1/2 the fun!

Favorite Memory - eating at Whiskey Liquor Up, minding our own business, when all of a sudden the Twearkin' Grannies made an appearance!

This was a Bachelorette Party of a bunch of girls in their early 20's walking up and down Fremont and everybody they encountered LOVED them. 

View from the top

She's always mad, before the food arrives, that is.

The food here is actually great, in all honesty recommend splitting entrees - even the burger & fries is massive. Too much food even for me, and I can eat!

She's happy when she knows the food is good!

Behold.

You can touch part of the old sign from the Mint. If you dare. And if you're had a recent Tetanus shot.  

She sports the Halloween themed earrings year-round. She's just cool like that.