LAS VEGAS -- After more than 50 years as a downtown Las Vegas landmark, Binion's Horseshoe Casino was forced to close last week after U.S. marshals arrived with a court order to seize nearly $2 million in debt owed to a union. Days later, Harrah's Entertainment stepped in and purchased the property and plans to reopen the casino, at least temporarily.

Officials moved swiftly through the casino on the night of Jan. 9, telling gamblers to cash in their chips and leave. Within hours, the doors were closed. Since then the hotel has remained operational but the casino and all of its attendant neon have been dark, leaving a gaping hole in the bright lights of Fremont Street -- and nearly 1,000 people unemployed.

Rumors of the financial difficulties at the hotel-casino had been rampant in recent weeks, with rumblings of missed payrolls, multimillion-dollar debt and quiet negotiations to sell assets reported in various news outlets. But the swift action to seize cash and close the hotel still came as a surprise.

The owner of the hotel, Becky Binion Behnen, had been working furiously to save the casino in recent months but massive debt owed to the union, the Fremont Street Experience and the Internal Revenue Service (among other entities) ultimately did it in.

Three days after the closure, Harrah's Entertainment announced it was purchasing the property for $50 million, mostly in the form of assumed liabilities. Harrah's executives plan to reopen the casino as soon as possible and will operate it for a while, but most analysts believe the purchase was more about a branding opportunity than about the struggling downtown casino.

Late last year, Harrah's purchased Jack Binion's Horseshoe Gaming Holdings for $1.45 billion. The company, which operates riverboat casinos in several states, was separate from the downtown Vegas Binion's Horseshoe, and there had been rumors that Harrah's was attempting to buy the Fremont Street casino as well so it could completely control the Horseshoe brand name.

Although Harrah's executives are not commenting publicly, there are already reports surfacing that they plan to sell Binion's as soon as possible and then use the Horseshoe name on a new casino somewhere on the Strip. Phil Ruffin's New Frontier and the Imperial Palace next door to Harrah's were both mentioned as possible sites of a new Harrah's Horseshoe, but both are merely speculation at this point.

Also important to Harrah's was the wildly popular World Series of Poker, held each April at Binion's Horseshoe. Without a traditional poker room of its own, Harrah's needs to reopen Binion's quickly to be able to hold the 2004 version of the annual event, but will most likely develop an alternate venue at a Harrah's property before the 2005 edition rolls around.

How quickly the company can reopen the doors of Binion's is in question. Obviously there's a lot of negotiation, legalities and paperwork involved, so most speculate it will be several weeks before the casino is operational again.

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Q: In what month and year did Binion's Horseshow open? ANSWER

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