Las Vegas- Felicia Fox and Tim Case along with hundreds of other hotel guests were turned out into the streets Friday night when Federal agents shut down gambling at one of the old-line casinos in Las Vegas.
Armed with court orders authorizing them to seize cash from Binion’s, U-S marshals and I-R-S agents halted gambling at the fabled site of the World Series of Poker on grounds it hasn’t paid union benefits since June. The Feds enforced a court order issued by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt ordering them to seize money from casino cages to satisfy several debts owed by the casino.
Last night, the casino’s roulette wheels were stopped, blackjack games were halted, slot machines were silenced and gamblers were told to cash in their chips. Agents then seized money from cashiers and sent some employees home.
The action is believed to signal the end of the 5 1/2-year ownership of Becky Binion Behnen, who has been operating the downtown property under a growing mountain of debt, industry insiders said.
Officials have asked all patrons to cash out, and all hotel guests to leave while shutting down the tables and the main cage. For the past several years, Binion’s has been struggling financially. Among the Horseshoe’s recent high-profile legal disputes are battles with the Fremont Street Experience over $3 million-plus in unpaid fees; the Internal Revenue Service, which on Nov. 5 placed a tax lien on the 52-year-old gambling hall, claiming the Horseshoe has yet to pay $5 million in past due payroll taxes; and the Culinary union, for unpaid health care contributions.
At about 7 p.m., 10 agents with the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s enforcement and audit divisions accompanied the marshals and lawyers for the union funds as they announced the order authorizing the cash seizure and the casino’s closure. The entire operation lasted about 5 hours.
All tables and slots were immediately closed, the bars were vacated and only about 100 poker players and about 50 Horseshoe workers remained on the casino floor. The poker room operates from a separate cage and the marshals had yet to close it, a floor supervisor said.
By 10 p.m., deputy marshals were in the process of counting the seized cash and expected it to total about $1 million. Nevada gaming regulations require that casinos maintain enough cash on hand to be able to pay off gamblers. Industry sources said similar-size casinos are required to maintain bankrolls of about $3 million to $5 million, although the Horseshoe listed its required minimum as $1.2 million in a Nevada Supreme Court filing in 2002.
The property has been a fixture of downtown Vegas’ Glitter Gulch since 1952 and is a widely known as host of the World Series of Poker. Outside the Horseshoe late Friday, a small crowd gathered.
Some people yanked on the locked doors or were turned away by security guards. Others peeked inside the tinted glass trying to figure out what was going on inside.
One eyewitness said he was playing at a packed craps table when a pit boss walked by and told everyone to cash in their chips. Everyone ignored him until he returned a short time later and repeated the command.
It was then that Las Vegas police, Gaming Control Board members and U.S. marshals had appeared on the casino floor.
Several U.S. marshals were also inside the cashier’s cage, stating, “As soon as we get our money, we’ll be done.”
Vegas has certainly not been without drama this week. Besides the porn convention being in town, Feds earlier in the week raided the offices of boxing promoter Bob Arum and are investigating allegations that the Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley fight had been fixed.