Harrah’s puts on a really big ‘shoe

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

With the sports book gutted, its boards wiped clean and old hotel-room mattresses on their way out, workers are bustling to get Binion's Horseshoe prepared for its Thursday re-opening.

Doors are scheduled to open at 4 p.m.

"We hopefully will be there 10 days from now," the Horseshoe's new vice president of operations, Wade Faul, said Monday as he strolled amid slot machines, their bellies opened and coins cleaned out.

"We are replacing about 5,000 yards of carpet in corridors and in hotel suites. We've removed about 400 slots from floor to open walkways. We've done a lot of cleaning.

"I think people are looking forward to seeing what we've done."

Since February Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which bought Binion's Horseshoe for its name and the annual World Series of Poker, has been in charge of the $1 million refurbishment of the hotel/casino. West Virginia MTR Gaming Group has a made a deal with Harrah's to take over operations of the property about a year from now.

Promising not to change the cowboy flavor of Binion's, Harrah's is simply grooming and refurbishing. So far, the tin ceiling tiles, stuffed animal heads and ornate woodwork in the older part of the casino remain intact. But even more than aesthetics and antiquity, Binion loyalists hope the casino's Old Vegas aura survives the corporate takeover.

"Horseshoe had a certain feel to it, a certain smell to it," said Larry Grossman, a Las Vegas gambling analyst, radio host and longtime World Series of Poker spectator. "When you went in there you could close your eyes and you knew you were in the Horseshoe."

"There's no casino in the world that true gamblers hold in their heart higher than the Horseshoe. We hope Harrah's understands what it means to the heart of the gamblers."

The most noticeable change will likely be the removing of slot machines that practically tripped tourists walking in the door, Faul said.

Tables and chairs in the Binion's Ranch Steak House that once served beef from Binion's cattle ranch in Montana have been shrink-wrapped while the restaurant is being cleaned and art on the walls is being replaced. Kitchens in restaurants and snack bars are being gutted and replaced with new equipment and appliances.

Where there were once three baccarat tables jammed into one room, there is now an empty space that will most likely be a vendor area, Faul said. The floor side of the former Mint casino will be full with roughly 70 poker tables to use during tournaments.

Coming home

As of last week employees were trickling into the hotel to fill out applications. More than 90 percent of employees who were working at the hotel when it was sold are returning.

For David Schandorff, a maitre d' for 35 years at Binion's Ranch Steak House, opening day will be a celebration.

"Everybody on my crew is looking forward to coming back," Schandorff, 55, said. "People are calling. They're wanting to know when we're going to reopen, customers want to make reservations for the first day."

Of the closure Schandorff said, "It just totally killed me. Most of our customers have been coming in for years and years and years. I just want everyone to come back and see us again."

Neither Grossman nor Schandorff say that corporate ownership will keep patrons away.

"I'm optimistic," Grossman said. "Out of all the places, I certainly hope Binion's resurrects itself. It can never be the same, but if it's close to the same, I'll be really happy.

"The Horseshoe is the church of gambling. Casinos come and go, but the Horseshoe is different. The Horseshoe is hallowed ground."

Schandorff said most of his crew is coming back. And though he says he considers Becky Behnen, the hotel's former owner, as a sister, Schandorff said he is looking forward to working with the new owners. He has already met with some members of the new management team.

"They were all very nice," Schandorff said.

Benny's place

Texas-born gambler Benny Binion opened the Horseshoe in 1951. The casino reflected Binion's western tastes. Binion allowed gamblers, many of whom he knew and mingled with, to place no-limit bets.

"He made it the kind of place he would want his buddies to come to," Grossman said.

Eventually the Horseshoe expanded into the neighboring Mint in the late 1980s. Binion first hosted the World Series of Poker in 1970, drawing more publicity to the downtown hotel.

Because the family spent little money on upgrades, elements in the hotel, such as the original reception desk with mail slots, antique elevators and beveled mirrors, have remained.

David Millman, curator of collections and history at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, said the Horseshoe's value to Las Vegas is its retained history.

"The Horseshoe hearkens back to when Las Vegas was promoting itself as this western, friendly atmosphere," Millman said. "The slogan was that it was a frontier town and the Horseshoe was emblematic of that. A lot of these places didn't hang on to that, but the Horseshoe did. They kept their cowboy image.

"A lot of it's frozen in time, from the '50s and '60s. There's great value in it because there's no shortage of modern hotels."

Longtime Las Vegas architect Dr. Robert Fielding said of the Horseshoe and its hotel kin, "These older properties have meaning that goes well beyond what we're doing today to emulate the older properties.

"We need to protect that, defend that, keep it as much as we can. Once the early ambience of hotels is gone, we'll lose a great early part of Las Vegas history."

World Series

The World Series of Poker will open April 22 at the Horseshoe. Dawn Petrick, director of communications for Harrah's said that after this year there are no specific plans for the future site of the tournament, which under Harrah's ownership is only required to be held at the Horseshoe the last two days of the tournament. Another source suggests that The Rio will be a future site.

Grossman said that wherever the World Series of Poker moves, it will be more convenient than holding it at Binion's.

"To be realistic, it's outgrown the facility," Grossman said. "In the early days there were only about 300 people ... it was more or less a gathering of characters. Now there's about 1,200. The facility isn't big enough to accommodate all the players and people who want to watch. People were talking about that two to three years ago."

Even under new ownership, Grossman doesn't expect the tournament to lose its character.

"The people Harrah's has hired, at least on paper, look very good," Grossman said. "They're linked to past years."

"There's a great reverence for the history of the World Series of Poker. It's a special thing. You win the World Series of Poker, you are a legend. You are a God in the poker world. You're part of Americana folklore if you win that thing."