Poker Legend: Benny Binion

In 1951 Benny Binion opened Binion's Horseshoe casino in Vegas, he set the craps limit at $500, 10 times the maximum at other casinos. The new limits made Binion's famous immediately, and other casinos were forced to raise their own limits accordingly.

Benny wore gold coins for buttons on his cowboy shirts, but was never seen in neckties. Despite felony convictions which normally prohibit ownership of firearms, he carried at least one pistol all his life and kept a sawed-off shotgun handy.

His most famous act was creating the World Series of Poker. Other casinos didn't offer poker because the game was not respectable and hard to police. It was associated with cheating long after other Nevada casino games were universally honest. Binion ran what was thought to be the most profitable casino in Las Vegas (privately held) but he didn't keep an office; he did business from a booth in the downstairs restaurant.

Source: Ad Hopkins (Las Vegas Review-Journal)