Binion sues high-roller for casino debts

Grace Leong

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

Las Vegas gambling figure Jack Binion, whose license in Illinois was denied by the Illinois Gaming Board in part because of his association with high-roller Kamel Nacif, is now suing Nacif to recover $4.177 million in outstanding gambling debts.

Nacif -- whom the Nevada Gaming Control Board said was associated with narcotics, firearms sales and money laundering and who in 1993 was bailed out of jail by Binion when Nacif was arrested on Mexican tax evasion charges -- was sued by Binion in Clark County District Court on Wednesday.

Binion is the brother of murdered casino executive Ted Binion and of Becky Behnen, current owner of the Horseshoe Club in downtown Las Vegas that was founded by their father Benny in 1951.

The suit said Nacif, believed to be a Mexican national, chalked up a total of $3.907 million in gaming debts at Binion's Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas on March 11, 1996, and March 12, 1996, and also incurred $780,000 in gaming debts on Jan. 31, 1994. The debt was incurred while Jack Binion controlled the Horseshoe. He has since sold majority control of the casino to his sister.

Binion, whose suit said Nacif has paid $510,000 of his $4.687 million debt to date, took legal action after attempts to recover the remainder of the debt allegedly were unsuccessful.

Nacif could not be reached for comment on Binion's charges.

Binion's alleged ties with Nacif go back to 1993 when Binion, according to the Illinois Gaming Board, posted bail of $2 million for Nacif. Binion's decision to provide $2 million bail money to Nacif was cited by the Illinois board as an example of Binion's questionable behavior and a reason for forcing Binion out of the Illinois gambling industry.

Binion now controls Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corp., which owns and operates Binion's barge and riverboat casinos in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi and Indiana.

Horseshoe Gaming, which in 1999 bought Empress Entertainment Inc., the operator of riverboat casinos in Joliet and Hammond, Ind., agreed in May to sell the Joliet casino to Argosy Gaming Co. for $465 million. This sale was required by Illinois regulators after they found Binion unsuitable to hold a license.

The purchase could be approved by the Illinois Gaming Board as early as late July, said Guy Chipparoni, Horseshoe Gaming's spokesman.

Binion, in an April settlement with the Illinois Board, agreed to sell the Joliet casino, move Horseshoe Gaming's headquarters to Tinley Park, Ill., from Joliet and disassociate himself from gaming in Illinois after his license was denied last June for rule violations and questionable practices at his casinos in Illinois, Nevada and Louisiana.

Horseshoe's license renewals in Bossier City, La., and Hammond, Ind., are now pending.

David Chesnoff, Binion's attorney, declined to comment on the specifics of Binion's lawsuit against Nacif.

But he said the lawsuit was filed as an attempt to collect the monies Binion is allegedly owed and has nothing to do with his license applications in Louisiana and Indiana or his active licenses in Nevada and Mississippi.

The Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Indiana, acquired by Horseshoe in December 1999, is located on the east side of the Chicago metropolitan area, just over the Illinois-Indiana border. Currently, Binion and this casino are in the re-licensing process, which all licensees must undergo every five years. Capt. Sherry Beck of the Indiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division described this re-licensing as a routine process.

"To my knowledge, we don't have any issue (with the relationship between Nacif and Binion)," Beck said.

Louisiana officials said today they couldn't comment on the Binion licensing investigation.