What Happened to Casino Magnate Ted Binion? His 1998 Death Is Still a Mystery

What Happened to Casino Magnate Ted Binion? His 1998 Death Is Still a Mystery

Dateline’s “What Happened in Vegas” episode reexamines Ted Binion’s 1998 death with new interviews with ex-girlfriend Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

It’s been more than 20 years and investigators still haven’t been able to solve the murder of the Las Vegas casino magnate Ted Binion. On Dateline’s “What Happened in Vegas” episode airing on Jan. 14, journalist Keith Morrison reexamines Binion’s mysterious 1998 death. Never-before-seen footage from interviews with insiders close to Binion will also be shown during this special episode.

Before you tune in, let’s review Ted Binion’s story. Here’s everything we know about what happened to Ted Binion.

Who is Ted Binion?

Ted Binion, whose full name was Lonnie Theodore Binion, was a gambling executive. He was the son of Benny Binion, the owner of the Las Vegas casino Binion’s Horseshoe, which is now named Binion's. The Binions were said to be involved in a number of illegal activities behind the scenes. And in September 1998, Ted Binion, then 54, was found dead inside his Vegas penthouse.

What happened to Ted Binion?

His girlfriend at the time, former stripper Sandy Murphy, was the one who discovered his body and called 911. When she found him, there was an empty Xanax bottle on his side as well as heroin paraphernalia in the bathroom, which suggested that he may have died of an accidental overdose or suicide.

Murphy told police that he had been depressed because he had lost his gambling license earlier that year, which was allegedly due to his family's involvement with organized crime.

Two weeks after his death, toxicology reports showed that Binion had lethal amounts of both Xanax and heroin in his body. But friends close to him found this suspicious as they knew Binion only used Xanax to get off of heroin and would not have taken them at the same time. Also, he only smoked heroin and did not ingest it. Suddenly, Murphy began to look suspicious.

Elena Rostova
Penulis

Elena Rostova

Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.