that attributes the Binion's Horseshoe hotel picture series ($.025 N9971, $1.00 N1762, $5.00 N0350, and $25.00 N0365) as being from the early 1950's. The hotel didn't look like that until after the Binion family wrested it away from Joe W. Brown in the circa early 1960's. In 1951 it looked just like the plain old Apache Hotel, with the marquis sign changed from Eldorado to Horseshoe. When Joe W. Brown took over in 1953, two of the most immediate things he did was scratch Binion's off of the chips in use at the time, and put his name above Horseshoe on the marquis. Those chips can't possibly date before 1957, when Benny got out of jail. After Benny got out of Leavenworth in 1957, after serving 4 years for tax evasion, he was a convicted felon and could no longer be an owner of the Horseshoe. When his family finally got it away from Joe W. Brown, Benny became a paid "Consultant" until his death, with his family members (except Ted, who later also had his gaming license revoked).

Here are part of my photos/postcards showing the chronology of the Apache Hotel and its resident casinos. As you can see, the earliest date of these chips is sometime between 1960 and 1962:

Original Apache Hotel circa 1932

Apache Hotel after addition of Apache Casino circa 1935

SS Rex Club circa 1945-1946

Eldorado Club circa 1947-1951

Original Horseshoe Club circa 1951-1953

Binion's Horseshoe Club circa 1953 (notice circled area) circa 1951 to 1953

Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Club after taken over by Joe W. Brown (notice circled area) circa 1953 to 1957+

Binion's Horseshoe Club circa 1960-1962, after control returned to Binion Family and after extensive renovation. Notice absence of Boulder club which closed in 1960 after the property purchased by Binion's Horseshoe. This postcard shows the new Horseshoe taking up the whole block. Renovations were probably completed by 1962, as evidenced by the postmark on the reverse of the postcard, but construction could not have been started until the Boulder Club was closed in 1960. Until that time the Horseshoe Club was not larger than the original Apache Hotel, which only covered about 1/2 of the block.