Born and raised in Texas, Benny Binion moved to El Paso as a 17-year-old and quickly got himself a bad reputation. He was convicted twice for moonshining – the act of illegally making whiskey. Fearful of the law, he quit the game and, somewhat bizarrely, turned to another vice – running an illegal lottery. And it was while in El Paso that Binion got the gambling bug.

Before he moved to Las Vegas though, Binion would fi nd himself in further trouble, facing a murder rap after shooting dead Frank Bolding in an argument and killing a numbers operator who pulled a gun on him.