RUFFIN COMES CLEAN: He’s Secretly Been Trying to Sell Circus Circus — Report

Posted on: January 17, 2025, 11:43h. 

Last updated on: January 18, 2025, 02:53h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Ever since Phil Ruffin purchased Circus Circus for $825M in December 2019, industry insiders have predicted his desire to flip the aging casino resort for a much higher price. Now, in a new interview, the 89-year-old casino tycoon confirms these predictions.

“Why do you think I bought Circus Circus?” he asked Forbes in a story it published Friday. “For the 102 acres. That’s the land play. Remember what I did at the Frontier, how the value of the land went crazy? Here, it’s going crazier.”

Ruffin picked up the Frontier for $165 million from the Elardi family in 1998, made virtually no improvements to it, then flipped it for $1.2 billion (a 700% profit) nine years later.

Contrary to popular belief, Ruffin didn’t implode the Frontier. That was the work of its next owner, El Ad Properties, whose plans to replace it with a replica of New York City’s Plaza Hotel imploded in their faces when the Great Recession hit.

Other than $30 million of renovations Ruffin sank into Circus Circus in 2022, he seems to be following his Frontier game plan.

Hardly Ruffin It

Ruffin has had plenty of reasons not to rush into a Circus Circus sale. Thanks to the risks assumed by Resorts World and Fontainebleau — well maybe not all the risks allegedly assumed by Resorts World — the value of Circus Circus’ land has continued increasing in step with the rest of the Strip’s burgeoning north end.

Also, unlike the Frontier, Circus Circus is a cash cow. According to Vital Vegas, its annual earnings are $90 million before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (a fancy way of saying casino cash flow). That means it has no debt, while most of its competitors work at a loss if you figure in costs (including interest on debt).

“We do well,” is all Ruffin would concede to Forbes. “We sell two-dollar beer, two-dollar hot dogs, two-dollar popcorn. People love it. A guy can eat and drink for six bucks.”

Taking it Public

Until now, it was in Ruffin’s best interest to keep his intention to sell Circus Circus close to his chest. For example, the premature but viral rumor of its sale last year reportedly cost Ruffin an $8 million deal for Live Nation to exclusively present 2025 events at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, an empty lot on Circus Circus’ land, according to Vital Vegas.

Ruffin isn’t saying why he’s reversing course and going public about his intentions now. However, it can safely be assumed that if any of the offers he has acknowledged receiving (“Let’s just say there is interest,” he told Forbes) came within acceptable range of his asking price, Circus Circus would have sold already.

It’s worth $5 billion,” Ruffin told Forbes. “It’s the best piece of land on the West Coast. It’s got the highway, it’s got the Sahara. It’s got 2,000 feet on the Strip, and it’s the last Strip property. And 102 acres is just a massive amount of land. You can almost build a city on it.”

Putting such a blatant sales pitch out there via a national business publication ensures that every single venture capitalist in the world now knows that Circus Circus is on the block.

When he finally makes the sale, Ruffin said, he plans to buy another Strip property with the proceeds. That’s most likely because capital gains taxes can be deferred by using the proceeds from the sale of one investment property to purchase a similar one.

“I have my eyes on some properties,” Ruffin said, noting that, if nothing else in Vegas works out, he’s willing to look elsewhere.

“It could be in another town, if it’s good enough” he said.