Binion's in Las Vegas A-B

As of this writing Binion's is not so much a hotel as it is a casino with some empty rooms on top of it. Those rooms are closed indefinitely until the owners determine there is enough of a demand to warrant opening them back up again. I've heard rumors that may happen in 2013 but don't hold your breath. If it does happen, don't even think about staying there until you read that the rooms have been remodeled - they were worn out before the hotel closed and will need some major love to make them habitable much less competitive.

The history of Binion's Horseshoe is a long and often tortured one. It opened in 1951, when reputed mobster Benny Benion took over the old El Dorado club and Apache hotel. It gained fame for its display of a million dollars in cash and later, in the 1970s, as the home of the World Series of Poker. After his death in 1989, his children tried to keep the place afloat but eventually money problems led to its closure in 2003. It was bought by Harrah's, who quickly stole the World Series of Poker and the Horseshoe name and then dumped the property to the first company to wave a check in their face. A series of owners finally led to the current ones who did some spiffing up of the public areas but then, as mentioned, shuttered the hotel rooms.

People had been asking me for years why I didn't have a review of Binion's on this site. This fabled institution has been a fixture in Downtown Vegas for decades so it was a reasonable question with a reasonable response: they wouldn't let me. I tried to gain access for a hotel review only to be turned down or ignored time and again. And it wasn't just me - some big names in the travel industry have tried to get in to get a peek at Binion's and the vault door had remained closed.