Phil Ruffin Net Worth & Biography 

Phil Ruffin Net Worth & Biography 

Phil Ruffin’s business empire encompasses the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino and the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as well as several other enterprises including real estate, convenience stores, oil production, hotels, casinos, and greyhound racing tracks. The American businessman is a business partner of former US President Donald Trump and co-owner of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. He is ranked at number 838 on Forbes’s world’s richest men’s list with a fortune that runs into several billion dollars. Full details about his career and businesses and numerous investments, as well as his private life and family are obtainable in the report below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Phillip Gene Ruffin on March 14, 1935, near Amarillo, Texas, United States. His parents were a Lebanese couple named Roy J. Ruffin and Blanche Ruffin.

Phil experienced his childhood in Wichita, Kansas where his family ran a grocery store. He was raised along with his four siblings: Pam Ruffin, Pat Ruffin, Elaine Ruffin Nemer, and Roy Ruffin Jr.

After graduating from Wichita North High School in 1953, he joined Washburn University in Topeka and studied there for three years before switching to Wichita State University. However, he never got his degree.

Professional Life: Business Career

Philip Ruffin’s career includes his involvement in a series of businesses. He was one of the first business owners to introduce the model of self-serve gasoline in Kansas. He owned sixty convenience stores by 1972, and his business ventures continued to grow throughout the years. When he had had significant capital, Phil invested all he had made at that time into establishing his first hotel located in Wichita. During this period, he also started hand truck manufacturing, and as fate would have it, he eventually became the largest manufacturer of hand trucks in the world.

By 1994, Phil was ready to focus on his hotel business completely. He leased all of his sixty convenience stores to the French conglomerate Total and invested the profits into the acquisition of more hotels. During this period, he purchased the New Frontier Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as well as the Crystal Palace hotel resort in the Bahamas. This former purchase would subsequently define Ruffin’s business career. He took control of the New Frontier during their time of challenges, as its staff was taking part in a strike that ended up as the longest-running strike in the nation’s history. Ruffin was able to settle the strike immediately, and the casino became prosperous once more. After years of running the New Frontier, he sold it to El Ad Properties for $1.2 billion in 2007 and diverted the proceeds to other things.

Phil Ruffin is known for his casino acquisitions over the course of his career. He paid $825 million for the Circus Circus casino hotel and spent upwards of $1 million per room in renovating the outdated hotel. Being that it has thousands of rooms, the Circus Circus cost upwards of $4 billion for renovations. Nothing made sense to anyone seeing that the expense spent on renovations would easily build Phil four hotels like the Circus Circus, but the businessman was utterly proud and excited to be buying a historic hotel and adding the famous casino to his portfolio.

Ruffin’s casino portfolio is truly impressive. In 2009, he paid $775 million in acquiring the Treasure Island hotel casino from MGM. His business empire currently includes many enterprises including real estate, convenience stores, oil production, hotels, casinos, and greyhound racing tracks.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Private Interests

The American tycoon is currently married for the third time in his life. His first marriage was to Mary Louise Miller. When they divorced, he tied the knot with Lynne Ruffin, whom he eventually divorced. In 2008 when he was 72 years old, Phil Ruffin married the then-26-year-old Ukrainian Model Oleksandra Nikolayenko.

He fathered three children with his former wife Lynne Ruffin, including son Phil Ruffin Jr. who controls the hand truck manufacturer Harper Trucks Inc., another son Chris Ruffin who runs Ruffins’ Wichita Hyatt, and a Daughter Michelle Ruffin-Stein who manages his Wichita Marriott.

He has two children with his model wife, including Richard William Ruffin and Malena Ruffin, born in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Philip Ruffin financially sponsored a food & learning initiative at the Alexander Dawson School which his two youngest kids attend.

He was seen on season seven of GSN’s TV show “High Stakes Poker”.

Phil Ruffin Net Worth: Earnings, Income Sources, Real Estate

While Ruffin may not be well known or as popular as some of the most popular casino moguls, he is definitely one of the richest people alive today with an exceedingly high net worth. He not only owns multiple casinos, but also convenience stores, racing tracks, and other ventures, which in return, supply him with his massive income. He is very active in the real estate industry, and also owns the biggest manufacturer of hand trucks in the world. While he was a household name in the gaming/gambling business for many years, he first gained recognition on a wider range after his business dealings with former president Donald Trump were publicized. The duo are the co-owners of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Phil Ruffin’s net worth is $2.5 billion. The business baron is the owner of a massive 15,000 square feet estate in Las Vegas called Primm Ranch. Originally listed at $14.5 million, this property contains 12 bedrooms with 19 bathrooms, and features incredible amenities such as an elevator, a gym, a casino room, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, a pool area, a beauty salon, a driving range, its own gas station, and equestrian facilities. Further investigation reveals waterslides, caves, and waterfalls immediately after the mansion. There’s also a network of hidden tunnels in the area, some of which lead to an underground shooting range reported to be soundproofed. Mr. Ruffin has in a statement, described his intentions to use the property as a park for his children.