Whatever Happened to the old Display of 100 $10,000 Bills at Binion's?

Binion's has a million-dollar display in a five-tier pyramid of plexiglass holders with what they say is cash ranging from ones to hundreds. They take photos and hand out 6 x 8 souvenir glossies. Who knows if there's really a million dollars in there, but more importantly, it pales in comparison with the old display of 100 $10,000 bills. Whatever happened to that?

We agree.

For many many years, every time we had visitors, no matter how many trips they'd made to Vegas, we always went downtown for a souvenir photo at Binion's and a 99-cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate (and for a long time dinner at Second Street Grill at the Fremont with the 50%-off LVA coupon). We have dozens of photos of friends and family in front of that display: a hundred $10,000 gold-certificate bills in a horseshoe-shaped case protected on both sides with thick Plexiglas located in the rear lobby, at the top of the coffee-shop staircase. We miss it to this day.

Over the years, there were two incarnations of it. The first, which went up in 1954, used uncirculated $10,000 bills in numerical sequence. It lasted five years, until Benny Binion needed the money; he took down the display and cashed the bills. (The story goes that Binion called up an armored Brinks truck to transport the bills to the bank, then sent dummy bills with the truck and carried the real ones to the bank in his cowboy boots.)

In 1964, Binion decided to revive the display. He searched high and low and eventually came up with a hundred new $10,000 bills. These bills were rarely obtained by the general public, being used primarily for interbank settlements. (Their distribution ended in 1969, when the Treasury Department began removing them from circulation.) The 1964 display stood for 35 years.

From practically the very beginning of the first display, a photographer snapped free souvenir photos of visitors in front of the million bucks. Over the years, more than five million people had their pictures taken in front of the display; in fact, many, like us, recorded their various trips to downtown Las Vegas over five decades with separate photos.

In December 1999, then-Horseshoe owner Becky Behnen, daughter of Benny Binion who died in 1989, quietly sold the display to an unnamed private collector. At the time, it was the largest single collection of $10,000 bills in existence; in fact, only 340 $10,000 bills remained in circulation, so the Binion's display accounted for nearly 30% of them.

It's unknown how much was paid, but in 1999, uncirculated $10,000 bills were going for about $75,000 apiece. However, it's doubtful that the Binion bills fetched quite that much, due to the 35-year-old glue used to hold them in the display case. It's believed the 100 bills, together, were sold for between $2 million and $2.5 million.

As for the replacement display, it was moved to a secure location right after the shutdown and hasn't been moved back. No word on when or if it will.

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Comments

Jackie Nov-20-2020

$5,000,000

Was my profit using a steam process to clean the glue from the bills.  Well actually a little less considering the labor and process cost.

Dave Nov-20-2020

Glue / Real

Glue?
I guess they really didn't appreciate the collectors value of the notes at the time.

But you never addressed the original question of whether the current display contains real money or not.

I believe, for two reasons, that it IS real money.

Casinos are required to keep large reserves on hand, so large that they rarely deplete it all the way. Therefore, keeping $1M on display rather than in the cage vault, doesn't cost them much. The display, while designed to thwart crooks, could be opened simply enough if the need arose.

The 1959 story of Benny needing to take the bills from the original display to the bank, shows that it occasionally does happen, and that the display is real money.

Jeffrey Small Nov-20-2020

$ 10,000 Bills

I talked with the Kansas City coin dealer who bought the bills.  He published a catalog listing some of the bills for sale.  He had bought the entire lot--and with the purchase of the bills he also got millions of negatives from the camera that took the souvenir pictures that you mentioned!  He was considering digitizing the negatives and offering to sell copies of the pictures! (I think he abandoned that idea since I never heard about it again--maybe also some privacy issues??)  The bills were not all uncirculated as you stated--they were in various conditions so they were priced differently--starting at around $ 70,000. (A really excellent bill would go for 2 or 3 times that amount then--more now!)

[email protected] Nov-20-2020

Another One

For a while there was another display of $1 million in a plexiglass case in the corridor connecting Bally's and Paris.  It may have been all $100s, but perhaps there were other denominations, too.  There were a lot of bills in there, so I suspect there really was $1 million.

VegasROX Nov-20-2020

Current display??

when we were thre last month, the display where you got the picture, was gone. Has it been brought back? First time in 20 years that we didn't get a souvenir picture from Binions.

T. Ferguson Nov-20-2020

disappointed too

We were there in October also, made a special trip downtown for our picture (probably our 50th).  Disappointed to see it was gone, hope it comes back after the virus scare.

rokgpsman Nov-20-2020

Loss of an iconic Vegas landmark

When Benny created that $1 million display in 1954 it was out there for you to closely look at and almost touch, so it was a pretty audacious idea. That would be the equivalent of $10 million on display now. It's was a huge amount of money, even for most rich people and shockingly huge for average people. It was a great idea he had, brought in lots of visitors to his place. At the time it was one of the main attractions to see when you visited Las Vegas.

I remember when Becky Binion took over after Benny died, that money was quickly removed. And she started running Binions on a very tight budget, lots of loyal customers didn't like the changes she implemented. Benny himself is fondly remembered for the Vegas part of his life, but he had lots of criminal activity including murder indictments and convictions in his past. He moved from Texas to Las Vegas in the early 1950's to operate a legal criminal enterprise called a casino and prospered for many years.

rokgpsman Nov-20-2020

It's Baaaack!

According to Binions website (www.binions.com) the $1 million display has been brought back on display. But I don't know how current the website announcement is-
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"Though downtown Las Vegas has evolved since the days of Benny Binion, Benny's enthusiasm still remains at the historic casino and has been picked up by the current owner, TLC Casino Enterprises, that purchased the property in March 2008. In keeping with the storied tradition of the Binion's legacy, the beloved $1 Million Dollar Display is back in a pyramid design of acrylic boxes set up on a poker table. Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel is continuing to making things great for you!"

Question of the Day - 20 November 2020

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