Columnist Jeff German: Behnen, Horseshoe were victims of changing times

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

There was a sense of relief in the voice of Becky Behnen when I woke her up with a phone call Tuesday morning, just hours after she signed a deal to sell Binion's Horseshoe to Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she said.

Behnen feels relief because Harrah's is picking up some $50 million in debts she incurred while running the downtown casino -- made famous by her legendary father, gaming pioneer Benny Binion.

But what also is easing her mind is that she no longer feels the pressure of carrying on the tradition of her colorful father, who died in 1989.

It obviously was a difficult task.

Behnen said she feels bad that she failed where her father succeeded, and she acknowledged making a lot of mistakes during her 5 1/2 years at the helm of the Horseshoe.

One of her biggest mistakes, she said, was following Benny Binion's philosophy of turning the Horseshoe into "the best gamble in town."

Like her father, Behnen insisted on using single decks at blackjack tables, even though most casinos had switched to "shoes" that hold multiple decks to increase the house's odds.

Behnen also followed her father's policy of loosely setting slot machines so that they turn out more jackpots.

In Binion's days these things reduced the Horseshoe's winnings, but brought it more business and ultimately more profits.

Tradition, however, slipped past the Horseshoe as the megaresorts firmed up their hold on the Strip and gambling proliferated across the country.

The competition at times became overwhelming, Behnen said.

She described how she got off to a rocky start shortly after taking the reins of the Horseshoe from her brother Jack Binion in 1998 following a bitter and protracted legal fight.

Some of her brother's friends and longtime customers, she said, mysteriously began showing up at the casino cage to cash large numbers of $5,000 chips. They contended they had obtained the chips in gambling transactions at the Horseshoe when it was owned by her brother.

Before she knew it, Behnen explained, she was out $10 million, which immediately put her in a financial hole.

Then the rise of neighborhood casinos in Las Vegas and casino-style gambling on Indian reservations in California started cutting into the Horseshoe's loyal customer base.

As for the Fremont Street Experience -- the $70 million publicly funded pedestrian mall that's supposed to lure visitors downtown and anchor redevelopment efforts -- Behnen said it did little to help her business.

"It hasn't brought players here at all," she said. "It just isn't enough of an attraction for people to drive downtown to see it."

Behnen became so disenchanted with the Fremont Street Experience that she stopped paying her dues and wound up being sued by the mall.

"I wasn't getting anything out of it," she said. "It was like being in competition with yourself."

Behnen said private kiosks on the mall sold many of the same things, the T-shirts and souvenirs, that she sold in her gift shop. And they sold them right outside the Horseshoe's door.

If there was one thing that cemented the Horseshoe's downward slide, she said, it was the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. To bring back visitors Strip resorts lowered their room rates, which gave people an opportunity to stay on the Strip for the price of a downtown room.

The kicker for Behnen came in the summer of 2002 when she said she felt pressure to sign a new Culinary Union contract that dramatically increased her payments to the union's health and pension funds.

Because she was slow in making those payments, the union went to court to obtain the money in a move that last week caused the Horseshoe's closing, put workers out of jobs and sent Behnen packing with memories of her legendary father.

When I asked Behnen what she thought needed to be done downtown to prevent other struggling casinos from suffering the Horseshoe's fate, she paused for a moment and responded: "If I knew the answer to that question, I'd still be in business."