What Happened to the Statue of Benny Binion?

What happened to Benny Binion's statue that was behind the casino? I currently hold many slot coins with his 3D portrait in bronze and silver. I was a friend and attended his funeral service.

In 1984, five years before Benny Binion’s death at age 85, sculptor and cowgirl Deborah Copenhaver was commissioned by the Binion family to create a 15-foot-tall 2,800-pound bronze statue of the family patriarch on horseback. It was placed outside a Horseshoe hotel-casino’s parking structure at the corner of Casino Center Drive and Ogden in downtown (one of the boundaries of Block 16, the original Las Vegas red-light district).

The statue was an apt symbol of the gangster and casino owner, whose nickname was “the Cowboy.” Binion was born on a farm in Texas, learned at a young age from his father how to trade horses, owned ranches in Montana where he raised rodeo horses, and was influential in getting the National Finals Rodeo to move to Las Vegas from Oklahoma City in 1985; that same year, he was named ProRodeo’s Man of Year by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

The statue remained on the downtown street corner for 23 years. In March 2008, shortly after he purchased the property for $32 million, Terry Caudill (owner of the Four Queens) agreed to a request from Michael Gaughan to move the statue to South Point.

Reportedly, Gaughan, son of another legendary downtown casino owner, Jackie, bought the statue from the Binion family for $1, with the intention of displaying it right outside the Equestrian Center at South Point.

As the South Point arena is in the business of hosting rodeos, barrel racing, horse shows, and related events, it’s perhaps the most appropriate place in Las Vegas for the larger-than-life bronze statue of a mounted Benny “the Cowboy” Binion.

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Comments

Hoppy Sep-04-2020

Well said

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The same can be said for Benny's statue.

Straski Sep-04-2020

Picture

I am surprised you didn't show the picture. You had it in your archives.  https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/question/2015-12-26/

Reno Faoro Sep-04-2020

BENNY the LEGEND

 benny's motto , gambling here ?, feed em , even if they are broke !!! i miss his heyday , 10 craps tables going . $2 steak dinner at 11pm , $2 ham steak bone in  breakfast, we would sit in his booth downstairs when he was not there . FAIR AND SQUARE , ALWAYS . Caudill a gent for 'giving' up statue for a buck. That is why i stay at the FOUR QUEENS, another DOWNTOWN GENT !!! . TY, TYVM

Alex Sep-04-2020

Missing the Original Horseshoe

Binion said he followed a simple philosophy when serving his customers: "Good food, good whiskey cheap, and a good gamble". The South Point carries on that tradition - may be the last place in Las Vegas.

Dan McGlasson Sep-04-2020

he had his dark side!

While Benny Binion understood gamblers more than some of the number crunchers in today's casinos, it is good to remember he was not a saint!  Very colorful history including time in my town of El Paso.  His move to Las Vegas was when he was shut out of his political connections in Dallas.  Yet as Reno Faoro stated very well, he understood how to build his business by taking care of gamblers.  Rarely seen these days.  Great QoD!

Luis Sep-04-2020

Yup!

Had a chance to see the statue in it's original place in down town, and in it's actual place at South Point. It brings home what I've allways said, there's something for every one. Mr. Gaugan learned from his father Jackie that if you treat your customers like they would want to be treated, they will respond in kind. I still remember Mr. Gaugan Senior wondering around the tables and slots, talking to every one. Mr. Gaugan Jr did the same at The Orleans. Service war number one at the orleans at that time, and the theme at that place was awsome. The Binion statue at South Point is a reimnder of what the old places where about, even if Mr. Binion had a less than shinny reputation, The Horseshoe was the place to be for precisely the service and feeling of being pampered at a small to reasonable price, the same at the Orleans, the same at South Point. I get why the statue is there.

Kevin Lewis Sep-04-2020

"Colorful" past

Not many convicted multiple murderers have had statues made of them. He did know how to run a casino, which in Vegas, far outweighs a couple of measly homicides (them folks probably "needed killin'" anyway).

Question of the Day - 04 September 2020

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