W hen Prohibition took effect, he started a bootlegging business and made alliances with local politicians, the police, and mobsters.
When he was 24, Binion moved to Dallas and established himself as a horse trader but soon found bigger bucks in illegal gambling operations. At the camps in the evenings, the traders passed the time by playing card games, particularly poker, so he picked up tricks of the trade from some of the best gamblers in the region. Shop Binions Horseshoe Hotel Casino Vintage Retro Las Vegas las-vegas-souvenir t-shirts designed by ghostofachance as well as other las-vegas-souvenir. His father believed that his young son would regain his health if he spent time outside, so he took the boy along when he went to work as a horse trader, and as soon as he was old enough, Binion worked as his father's errand boy. Benny Binionīorn in 1904 in rural Texas, Binion was always so sick that h is mother was afraid to send him to school. His casino helped to turn Fremont Street into Glitter Gulch and set the stage for the lavish game halls to come. His son, Jack Binion, became president of the Horseshoe in 1963, and spearheaded the World Series of Poker installation at the casino in 1970 (Jack Binion was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Lester 'Benny' Binion was a sickly, uneducated kid who grew up to become a convicted murderer, yet by 1951, he had established himself in the fledgling gambling town of Las Vegas, where he opened a casino, hobnobbed with gangsters, learned the art of the gimmick, and didn't pay his taxes.
