Bodog Beat

The partial end to an era was announced yesterday when the management of Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel revealed that the "hotel" part of their name would cease to exist. Citing the hard-hit economy of Southern Nevada, the property will shut down 365 rooms and lay off 100 workers effective Dec. 14.

“This is a result of this brutal economy that has affected Las Vegas,” said Binion's spokeswoman Lisa Robinson. “We looked at every aspect of our operations and the hotel rooms are no longer competitive in this market.”

While the hotel portion of the property will cease to exist for now, the casino and, more importantly, the poker room will remain fully functional, meaning that 700 other workers will be keeping their jobs in this down economy. The poker room holds immense importance to the poker community as the place where Benny Binion began what is now the largest and richest poker tournament series in the world, the World Series of Poker. Started in 1970 as an invitational of the six best poker players that Binion could pull together, the WSOP ran annually until 2005 when Harrah's purchased the brand and moved the tournament to the Rio Las Vegas.

Recently, Binion's just finished work on a brand new poker room and Hall of Fame area to celebrate its history as the home of poker in Las Vegas, so hopefully the demise of their hotel business does not signal an impending closure of one of poker's great landmarks.