Phil Ruffin, owner of Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, recently purchased Casino Miami, owned by Fronton Holdings LLC, for an undisclosed price. The 200,000 square foot property sold for $155 million in 2014.
Ruffin, 83, said, “I look forward to entering the Miami gaming market through this acquisition. We have exciting plans for Casino Miami that we will be revealing in the near future.”
Located less than 20 minutes from downtown Miami, Casino Miami has 1,012 slot machines and electronic table games and is licensed to hold 2,000. It generated $68 million in gross gaming revenue last year and $60 million through October 2018, according to University of Nevada-Las Vegas’ Center for Gaming Research. The property also features the Club Rio live entertainment space, Whiskies bar, café, live jai-alai games and simulcast betting.
In addition, it sits on 21 acres of developable land, where Ruffin plans to build a hotel, said Michelle Knoll, Ruffin’s spokesperson. She added Casino Miami’s nearly 150 employees will be retained, and the property’s name will remain the same.
Knoll said Ruffin “had been interested in the Florida gaming market for quite some time. When this property came available, he felt that it met his financial parameters for acquisition. This purchase became even more valuable with the Florida law that will seriously impair the issuance of future gaming licenses.” Knoll was referring to the recent passage of Amendment 3, which grants Florida voters the exclusive right to authorize casino expansion across the state. Previously, that was determined by the state legislature. Now the amendment, which was supported by Disney Worldwide and the Seminole Tribe, will make it more difficult to expand gaming in the state, thereby raising the value of existing gaming licenses.
Fronton Holdings LLC President Dave Jonas stated, “We are proud of what Casino Miami has become and thank all of our employees and customers for their loyalty and support. We look forward to watching Casino Miami’s continued development under the new ownership of Phil Ruffin.”
Ruffin, a Kansas developer, purchased the New Frontier Hotel-Casino for $165 million in 1998. He sold the property in 2007 for $1.2 billion to an Israeli development group that demolished the property but lost the land in foreclosure. Wynn Resorts now owns the site.
In 2009, Ruffin bought Treasure Island from MGM Resorts International for $775 million. He also is the 50 percent owner of the non-gaming Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. He also owns commercial real estate, hotels, oil fields, racetracks and truck production. Currently Ruffin is listed at Number 302 on the Forbes 400, with a net worth of $2.6 billion.
