Here are Amarillo Slim and my own self standing in front of Binion's display of $1,000,000 in ten thousand dollar bills. This was in 1975. Slim and I flew out together and everyone on the plane knew who he was which was weird because of the secrecy of our lives.

This display was the greatest casino gimmic from a master marketer, Benny Binion. They gave you four free post card pictures. This was in the back of hte casino. You had to walk through. Then you had to return in one hour for the photos which might be a little bit late. The Manson Family, Charlie and the girls had their picture made here.

Around 1951, before Benny went to prison for tax evasion, he had a bit of a squabble with the Mob who controlled the strip casinos. When the federal judge sentenced Benny for tax evaasion he said,"I didn't mean to cheat the government. I'm kind of ignorant. I got to gambling and all." Curly Cavitt told me that Benny brought in "sixty hop heads off the Jacksboro highway to sleep on the casino floor" to warn the Mob. Benny told them we do not go by any Mr. Nice-Guy Mafia rules. We'll send folks into Little Italy on Christmas Day to kill your grandmothers. "Legend" and I repeat "Legend" because I am not sure that that was the reason for the million dollar display later. Ol' Benny saying, "If anyone is tough enough to take this joint, there's an extra million in it for you." Kind of a dare. Anybody old enough to have had their picture taken with the $1,000,000?

I came here expecting an old timer story dont disappoint me Johnny.

btw, when will the first photoshopped picture of doug lee and amarillo slim arrive?

Congrats on learning to post pictures! At least tell the story of what happened to those 10K bills.

I remember seeing the million on display and there being a huge queue to take ur pic with it.

And then i peered in bobbys room that night and saw prob 5 x that amount on a poker table

I picked a picture that could not be Photoshopped. I'm learning the tricks of the road when it is not exactly a road. But, if I learn one more trick, I'll starve.

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

Johnny, every image in existence can be photoshopped. If you are saying that you believe this one is in it's original form, I buy that.

Do you know? I do not. When Jack Binion and his sister, Becky Behan, had a falling out and cut out, I guess they cut them up like a boarding house pie. I have read where Benny had trouble getting them, and a bank, Philadelphia "I think", had a bunch in their vault. They were not in circulation so I'd wonder if they had collecter value? Anybody know?

A cinch prop bet for y'all. I'll bet either David or Mason still has a pic like this and could post it.

I remember it and morn the passing of the heart and soul of poker and am so sorry his great genes didn't make it to ALL of his offspring.

http://www.lvrj.com/business/27267779.html

I saw it just as it appears in the picture in 1955. There was not a big crowd; but, it was July. I heard that the mint made some threats about wanting the $10,000 notes back. Too bad Benny didn't think to build a wall out of 1,000,000 silver dollars. great times..........b

The million is still there. I saw it the other day.

When I was twenty-one and got a job shilling, playing poker for the house, at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, we played with silver dollars in the dollar limit and six-dollar limit. They paid us in silver dollars which would weight you down. One night, while my partner wsa getting the car, I lost my day's wages, $8, shooting craps. My mother would go to the bank with $500 and get change to pull out the silver money. I got my a lock box full of silver, purchased at $1 an ounce. Those old silver dollars, a hundred plus years old aren't worth anything to collectors if they are beat up.

Unlike the version of the stack on display from 1964 to 2000, the new display isn't made of rare $10,000 bills. It is $270,000 in $100 bills, $688,000 in $20 bills and $42,000 in $1 bills.

...

Under the new ownership, to get a photo with the money, a customer needs to sign up for the slot club and plunk down $20 for the souvenir and $25 in slot or table play.

I wish that $1M was still there. I read somewhere that those bills were sold for cheap but don't really know. I recall that there used to be somebody sitting on an elevated chair holding a rifle in the casino. I've always wondered if it was loaded, anybody know?

See above.

It is still there.

I meant the $10,000 bills. Very cool to look at.

The display that is there now is not located where the original was. As posted earlier, it was originally at the back of the casino. Also, as posted earlier, it was made of $10,000 bills. It now, is not.

Saw the stack on my first trip to Vegas in '97. I didn't know about it, so I was just checking out the casino and saw a glass case with a million bucks in it. Was amazed it was just sitting there, like it was no big deal.

Didn't realize they charged for pics of the new display. Thought you just signed up for a player's card, got handed some coupons and a pic.

http://www.lvrj.com/business/27267779.html

Quote:
In 2000, when coin collector Jay Parrino bought the display for an undisclosed price, longtime Binion's fans mourned the loss.
Quote:
Just one of the $10,000 bills from the old Binion's display was posted on the auction Web site eBay for $160,000


SO SICK THAT ONE 10K NOTE SELLS FOR 160K....

Johnny Hughes..dropping more names than Hellmouth