Phil Ruffin

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 Las Vegas, Nevada.

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. 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 $1.3 billion. (This figure was before his 2007 record-setting sale of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.)

Early life and career

Ruffin is from Wichita, Kansas and dropped out of college.

In 1972, Ruffin pioneered self-serve gasoline in Kansas, creating a chain of 60 convenience stores in the Midwest. In 1987, he then used cash from the convenience stores to build his first hotel, a Marriott in Wichita. His businesses also included oil distribution and one of the country's largest manufacturers of hand trucks.

In 1994, Ruffin leased his convenience stores to Total, using the money to purchase more hotels. Then, in 1995, Ruffing acquired the Crystal Place casino resort in the Bahamas....
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