The Las Vegas businessman buys Casino Miami shortly after Floridans approved key gambling-related amendment
Las Vegas casino boss Phil Ruffin has set his sights eastward, news emerged last week. The 83-year-old businessman has recently purchased Casino Miami, a 200-000-square-foot gambling venue in Miami, Florida.
The purchase price has remained undisclosed, but the property was valued at $155 million when it last changed its owner back in 2014. Casino Miami occupies a 21-acre site with developable land. The gambling facility features 1,012 slot machines, electronic table games, live jai-alai games, simulcast betting as well as live entertainment space, dining area, and a bar, among other amenities. The casino portion does not feature proper table games as under Florida’s current gambling law, these can only be operated at properties owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
According to data from the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Casino Miami generated gaming revenue of $68 million in 2017 and of $60 million over the first 10 months of this year. The property is one of eight commercial casinos currently operating around Florida.
In a statement from last week, Mr. Ruffin said that he was looking forward to entering the Miami gaming market and that they had exciting plans for Casino Miami. A spokeswoman for the businessman revealed that he plans to add a hotel at the site of the existing gambling venue.
News about Mr. Ruffin’s acquisition of Casino Miami arrived just weeks after Florida voters passed Amendment 3 that gave them the final say on any proposals for gambling expansion in the state.
Harder to Expand Gambling
The Florida Legislature has been discussing possible forms of gambling expansion around the state for several years now. However, now as it is up to voters to decide on these, it would probably be even harder for expansion proponents to succeed.
This makes the existing gaming licenses extremely valuable and will certainly impair the issuance of new licenses in future.
In a statement from last week, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ruffin said that the businessman has long been interested in expanding his gaming footprint to the East Coast. She went on to say that with the recent passage of Amendment 3, the casino mogul’s newest purchase was even more valuable.
Under existing Florida laws, operators of gaming machines are required to annually pay a $2-million license fee and a $250,000 regulatory fee. Part of the proceeds go to the state’s problem gambling program.
Mr. Ruffin entered the world of gambling in the late 1990s when he acquired the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, which was located on the Las Vegas Strip, but was imploded in 2007. The businessman purchased the property for $167 million but sold it for $1.2 billion in 2007.
He then bought Treasure Island Hotel and Casino from MGM Resorts International in late 2008 at a time when the latter company was heavily in danger of going bankrupt as a result from the Great Recession. The recent purchase of Casino Miami was Mr. Ruffin’s first in ten years.
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