The former world champion had been imperious in landing the English Open a week earlier, but was left trailing by the Israeli-born Scot in a 6-3 defeat.
Bingham's 130 break in the fourth frame to level things up looked to have turned a tough opening-round fixture in his favour, but he lost the next two and was never back in the match.
Kyren Wilson also fell at the first hurdle as his early-season form remained absent.
The Kettering potter was always behind to Yuan SiJun and while reducing the deficit to 3-2, then lost what proved to be the final three frames in a 6-2 defeat.
Mark Selby survived a scare, fighting back from 5-4 down to beat Li Yuan 6-5.
Selby, going for his third successive victory in the event, edged a tight final frame in typically dogged fashion on a difficult day for the Leicester man.
"Out there today I wasn't there," he told World Snooker. "I was there in person, but mentally my head was elsewhere with what happened at the football club yesterday. It was a tough day.
"He (Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha) has put Leicester on the map. I've been fortunate enough to meet him, he put me in the director's box the day we won the Premier League, a great guy."
Mark Williams showed hints of a return to his 2017 form with breaks of 92, 81 and 106 en route to a 6-1 success against Zhang Jiankang, Ding Junhui registered a 128 break as he beat Robin Hull 6-4, and Barry Hawkins beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-2.
Stephen Maguire registered a 101 break and offered glimpses of his fluent best in a 6-1 victory over Michael Georgiou, while Yan Bingtao whitewashed Jimmy White, again scoring a century in a 6-0 romp.
Richard Mann's selections also started well, with Ali Carter a 6-0 winner against Kurt Maflin and Ryan Day seeing off Tiang Pengfei 6-3.
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