Voting Station

Benny Binion

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Gambler

The Resume

    (November 20, 1904-December 25, 1989)
    Born in Pilot Grove, Texas
    Birth name was Lester Ben Binion
    Bought the El Dorado Club and Apache Hotel in Las Vegas and opened them as Binion’s Horseshoe Casino (1951)
    Organized the first World Series of Poker (1970)
    Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame (1990)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a bootlegger.
    He was a numbers runner.
    He received a two-year suspended sentence for killing a fellow numbers runner (1931).
    He headed the Southland Syndicate, controlling illegal gambling in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
    He was suspected (but never convicted) of murdering at least four rivals in the Dallas gambling rackets.
    He was sentenced to five years in prison for income tax evasion (1953).
    He lost his gambling license, but was able to transfer management of his casino to family members.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He had to flee Dallas when the Chicago mob began taking over the rackets after WWII.
    He received death threats from rival casino owners after raising the craps table limit at Binion’s to $500 (ten times higher than at his competitors).
    His was the first Vegas casino to offer free drinks to players.
    His philosophy for dealing with customers was ‘Make little people feel like big people… Good food, good whiskey cheap, and a good gamble.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 27 Votes: 51.85% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 42.86% Annoying