Billionaire Trump Pal Phil Ruffin Is Ready To Sell The Aging Circus Circus Casino

Forbes Daily Briefing

Forbes

Careers, Business, News, Entrepreneurship

4.6 • 12 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

The president's best friend is preparing to cash out of the legendary Las Vegas resort. He tells Forbes about his latest big gamble in Sin City.

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0:00.0	Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, January 21st.
0:05.0	Today on Forbes, billionaire Trump pal Phil Ruffin is ready to sell the aging circus circus casino.
0:13.0	On a Wednesday in December, Phil Ruffin, the 89-year-old casino billionaire, is sitting right where he plans to cash in his chips. In his office at
0:22.1	Treasure Island, the Strip Casino Hotel he bought from MGM for $775 million in 2009, or about
0:30.1	$1.1 billion today. Right now, however, he's focused on his other property in Vegas, the legendary Circus Circus,
0:39.0	which sits on 102 acres on the north end of the strip, close to the sphere, and the new
0:44.3	Fontaine Blue.
0:46.3	Ruffin says he has been approached by buyers to sell Circus Circus.
0:49.8	Coily, he says, quote, let's just say there is interest.
0:53.5	It's worth $5 billion.
0:56.3	Ruffin, who Forbes estimates is worth a conservative $4.7 billion, although he says he is closer
1:02.5	to $8 billion, bought Circus Circus for $825 million from MGM in 2019, roughly $1 billion today.
1:12.1	Originally built in 1968 by Jay Sarno, a Vegas Hall of Famer who opened Caesar's Palace
1:17.4	two years earlier, the property featured live circus acts, trained elephants and monkeys
1:22.3	on the gaming floor, and was billed as Sin City's first family-friendly casino.
1:27.3	Today, the monkeys and elephants are long gone, and's first family-friendly casino.
1:31.8	Today, the monkeys and elephants are long gone, and the casino has seen better days.
1:37.6	But its budget reputation, indoor theme park, live circus performers, and cheap room rates still attract its bread-and-butter demographic, middle-class gamblers with kids.
1:43.0	Ruffin says, quote,
1:45.0	We do well.
1:48.3	We sell $2.00 hot dogs, $2.00 popcorn.
1:49.5	People love it.
	...

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