Phillip G. Ruffin is an American businessman. His business interests lie largely in casinos, greyhound racing tracks, oil production, convenience stores, and real estate. Ruffin lives in Wichita, Kansas.

Ruffin has been listed on the Forbes 400 list of the country's richest people multiple times, most recently at #215 in 2008 with a net worth of $2.1 billion.^[1] In the 2006 list, he was listed at #606 on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's billionaires, with a reported net worth of only $1.3 billion.^[2] (This figure was before his 2007 record-setting sale of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.)

Contents 1 Personal 2 Businesses 2.1 New Frontier Hotel and Casino 2.2 Treasure Island 2.3 Trump International Tower 2.4 Wichita Greyhound Park 2.5 Convenience stores 2.6 Lodging 2.7 Real estate 2.8 Harper Trucks 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Personal

Ruffin's reputation is one of shying away from press coverage and publicity, so many details of his life are not well cited. Forbes listed him as having been married and divorced once with three children, and a college dropout ^[1]. He is also the uncle of actor/model Sean Kyle Ruffin who currently resides in Las Vegas. On January 6, 2008 the 72 year old Ruffin married the 26 year old supermodel and Miss Ukraine 2001 title holder Oleksandra Nikolayenko.^[3]

[edit] Businesses

[edit] New Frontier Hotel and Casino

Ruffin is best known for his purchase of the Frontier Hotel and Casino, one of the Strip's venerable properties. When he bought the resort from Margaret Elardi and her family, it had been mired in a longtime, sometimes violent strike with the Culinary Workers Union, one of the most powerful unions in Las Vegas. Ruffin settled the strike very soon after his purchase in 1999. Soon after, the casino-hotel became known as the New Frontier.

Ruffin announced plans to raze the New Frontier and replace it with a new resort to be called The Montreaux, but the development never got off the ground.

Ruffin sold the New Frontier to El Ad Properties in 2007. The $1.2 billion sale price for the 36 acres (15 ha) property was the largest per-acre price in The Strip's history.^[4]

[edit] Treasure Island

MGM-MIRAGE has announced that they are selling Treasure Island Hotel and Casino to Phil Ruffin. The negotiated price is $600 million in cash and $175 million in secured notes^[5]. Ruffin estimates that to build a casino like Treasure Island from the ground up would cost $2.7 billion. The Treasure Island is about 700 yards from the site of his former casino, the New Frontier. In calendar year 2008, Treasure Island reported $376M in revenue (down from $431M in 2007) and $101M in EBITDA.^[6] Ruffin expressed his lack of concern about buying a casino in a down market, because the TI will have very little debt. Ruffin took complete ownership of the hotel and casino resort in the early morning of March 20, 2009.

[edit] Trump International Tower

Ruffin's joint venture with his good friend Donald Trump involved a portion of the New Frontier land. The Trump International Hotel and Tower, built immediately adjacent to the Fashion Show Mall, broke ground in July 2005.^[7] The tower opened in 2007, and plans for an identical second tower have been announced. Ruffin has half interest in the development, having contributed the land for his part of the deal.^[8]

[edit] Wichita Greyhound Park

Ruffin's company owns Wichita Greyhound Park. On August 7, 2007, Ruffin announced that he would close the track, after a referendum to allow slot machines or casino gambling at the track failed.^[9]

[edit] Convenience stores

Ruffin Companies' web site states that the company owns 61 convenience stores leased to Total and operated by Diamond Shamrock over a three-state area.^[10]

[edit] Lodging

Ruffin's Hotel Group division owns and operates 13 hotels under the Marriott Hotels, Fairfield Inn and Courtyard by Marriott brands in Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Texas and Alabama.^[11]

[edit] Real estate

Ruffin owns various commercial real estate holdings in Kansas and in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.

[edit] Harper Trucks

Ruffin owns and operates Harper Trucks, the nation's largest manufacturer of hand trucks.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ruffin Companies official web site