Question of the Day - 11 February 2022

This is a little tidbit we picked up from the book Eyes in the Sky by Karen Leslie, an inside look at Vegas history from the perspectives of pioneers in the sign, casino, public relations, law, and food-and-beverage businesses. We recommend it highly. 

Here's the story of the tunnel as quoted from the book. Levinson is Ed Levinson, a major investor in and the casino boss at the Fremont. Kent is Kent Carmichael, who was working in the Fremont's maintenance department in the early '60s when this episode takes place. (Kent is also the guy who crashed through the ceiling of the Fremont lounge during a Wayne Newton show that we covered in this QoD.)

Take it, Karen.

Levinson explained to Kent that a facility was to be constructed in the garage of the Fremont Hotel to house an IBM computer system. The newly developed state-of-the-art contraption would monitor slot machine activity in the entire casino.

“We’re also going to dig a tunnel beneath Third Street, connecting the Fremont to the basement of the Horseshoe,” Levinson said. “Once that’s completed, you’ll have some wiring to do. I’ll tell you more once the tunnel’s completed.”

Kent remained silent. He couldn’t stop thinking about all the stories he’d heard about Benny Binion.

The project began and Kent’s workload was divided between the two hotels. Backhoes dug the hole and cables were run through the tunnel between the Fremont and the Horseshoe. Benny’s casino slot activity was hooked up to the computer to monitor slot wins and losses at the Horseshoe, in addition to those of the Fremont. Within a few months, profits and losses from both casinos were being monitored in tandem.

Nice job, Karen.

As for why the Horseshoe and the Fremont, two presumably competing casinos, shared their slot data with each other, here's the background. 

Benny Binion lost his gambling license in 1951. When he was sent to federal prison for tax evasion in '53, shares of the Horseshoe were sold to various investors; squeaky clean (at least in the eyes of investigators) Texas/Louisiana casino operator Joe W. Brown held a majority of the shares. Eddie Levinson and the Fremont Corporation also owned a piece (around 25%) of the Horseshoe and although by the time the tunnel was dug, Benny was out of prison, he still had no gambling license; Levinson held the licenses for both casinos. Thus, both Levinson's group and the Binions had a strong mutual interest.

The tunnel was built, the computer was set up, and the slot info was combined, so that Binion and Levinson could jointly monitor the play, in part to stay on the same page when it came to all the skimming that was going on. Of course, the records of each casino's earnings went to the IRS separately (at least some of them, anyway), but Binion and Levinson had a deal or two going that the tunnel expedited. 

Does the tunnel still exist? We can't say for sure, but with all the renovations over the past 50-plus years, it's doubtful.