Phil Ruffin, who owns the Treasure Island on the Las Vegas Strip, said Tuesday he acquired a casino in Miami with 1,000 slot machines that is attached to a jai-alai fronton and has 21 acres for development.
Ruffin, 83, who is currently listed at No. 302 on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of $2.6 billion, is buying Casino Miami from Fronton Holdings LLC. A purchase price was not disclosed.
Phil Ruffin
The casino is located 20 minutes from downtown Miami. The property has slot machines and electronic table games – including blackjack and roulette – a live entertainment space, and a café dining area along with a bar. The casino is licensed to hold 2,000 games.
The jai-alai fronton includes live games and a simulcast wagering area.
Ruffin said Casino Miami’s nearly 150 employees will be retained, and the property’s name will not change.
“I look forward to entering the Miami gaming market through this acquisition,” Ruffin said in statement. “We have exciting plans for Casino Miami that we will be revealing in the near future.”
Ruffin, a Kansas developer, came to Las Vegas in 1998 when he purchased the New Frontier Hotel-Casino for $165 million. He sold the property to an Israeli development group for $1.2 billion in 2007. The group demolished the property but lost the land in foreclosure. Wynn Resorts now owns the site.
Ruffin bought Treasure Island from MGM Resorts International in 2009 for $775 million.
Ruffin is also 50 percent owner of the non-gaming Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas with the family of President Donald Trump. When Trump came to Las Vegas in June to campaign for Republican candidates, Ruffin and his family received a behind-the-scenes tour of Air Force One, the highly classified Boeing 747 used by the president.
In addition to his Las Vegas holdings, Ruffin owns commercial real estate, hotels, oil fields, racetracks and truck production.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
