Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel Apache
Downtown
Binion's was, at one time, the quintessential old-time gambling hall, with low-limit blackjack, the biggest crap pit in town, a top poker room, comps for the asking, and no house limit (your first bet was your biggest bet, even up to $250,000). But that was when Benny Binion and his son Jack ran the joint, before Harrah's Entertainment bought it in the early 2000s, stripped it of its most valuable asset, the World Series of Poker, and resold it to TLC Casino Enterprises, which also owns the Four Queens across Fremont Street.
It's become something of a grind joint, even for downtown Las Vegas casino. It has a popular poker room ($4 rake on all cash games, $2 in comps per hour of rated live poker play, and special room rates for poker players). There's also a party pit with cowgirl dealers, 5x odds at craps, 800 slots, a free-photo promotion in front of $1 million, a William Hill sports book, and Club Binion's players club.
The Hotel Apache opened in 1932. It was built by P.O. Silvagni, an Italian immigrant who, though he spoke little English, was a builder in Utah, held one of the concrete contracts for Hoover Dam, and bought the vacant lot at 128 Fremont Street for $30,000, envisioning all the dam workers needing a place to blow off steam on Saturday nights. It was the first Las Vegas hotel to have air-conditioning in the lobby, protected by an air curtain at the entrance. It was also the first with an elevator and a carpeted casino.
