Harrah's Entertainment acquired the poker tournament in 2004 and moved it to the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino. Ted Binion's death in 1998 sparked a sensational murder trial and eventual acquittal in 2004 of his ex-stripper, live-in girlfriend and her secret lover. Jack Binion and his brother, Ted Binion, worked at the downtown property, now known as Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel and operated by the corporate owner of the neighboring Four Queens. The first World Series of Poker in 1970 was hosted by Binion’s father, former Texas gambler Benny Binion, as an invitation-only game at his downtown Horseshoe, a 366-room hotel he opened in 1951. Jack Binion, 86, a former casino executive and member of the American Gaming Association and World Series of Poker halls of fame, was set to present a lucky horseshoe from his family’s ranch at an event also including “Jubilee!” costumes recalling the feathery Bally’s revue that ran for 35 years before closing in 2016. It also puts the Horseshoe marquee across the street from the Bellagio and its fountains, Caesars Palace and its statues and the glittery Flamingo Las Vegas. Renovations and renaming harken back to Binion’s Horseshoe, a hotel and gambling hall in downtown's “Glitter Gulch” where the World Series of Poker began.
The 2,800-room property once was the MGM Grand Hotel, where a historic fire in 1980 killed 87 people.
