Perhaps as a monument to the Great Recession.
After picking up Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel for a song ($32 million) in 2008, new owner Terry Caudill had a number of expansive ideas for the property. One of these was to build a second hotel tower. However, renovation of the existing tower was already proceeding more slowly than expected, partly due to asbestos remediation. By the winter of 2009, the Las Vegas economy hadn't only taken a pummeling, but Caudill’s plans were proving to be overly ambitious.
Concentrating on his hotel product at the Four Queens, Caudill closed the Binion’s rooms and coffee shop (the coffee shop subsequently reopened) on Dec. 14, 2009. The check-in desk became a souvenir stand.
As for the future of the hotel rooms, it looks bleak. In the first place, the asbestos issues in the tower (formerly part of Del Webb’s The Mint) present a formidable obstacle. Also, Caudill seems able to accommodate room traffic just fine at the Four Queens. (During the Great Recession, he was feeling the effects of an oversupply, renting out rooms at Binion’s for $19 a night. Caudill executives told the Las Vegas Sun that room demand had been "absorbed" by the Four Queens.)
In 2010 Binion’s General Manager Tim Lager told the Las Vegas Sun that a hotel reopening was in the works "one day" in the future, but that was seven years ago.
A different Binion’s spokesperson even said they’re "no longer competitive in this marketplace." (Fertitta’s Golden Nugget opened 500 new rooms the week before Binion’s hotel closed.)
Binion’s also sits on land that is, in part, leased from other owners. At the time of the hotel closure, Caudill was deeply enmeshed in litigation with them over lease payments for the parcels in questions.
So, with the asbestos, competition, and lease issues, the closure has taken on the feeling of permanence.
