{"id":249568,"date":"2022-12-23T16:53:12","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T22:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=249568"},"modified":"2022-12-23T19:10:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T01:10:35","slug":"phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruffin Didn\u2019t Bid for Mirage Because He Wanted Real Estate, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Billionaire Phil Ruffin didn\u2019t make a run at the Mirage when MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) was shopping the casino-resort. That&#8217;s because he wanted the land, not just the operating rights.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_249571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-249571\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-249571\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR-142x85.jpg\" alt=\"Ruffin\" width=\"1200\" height=\"720\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-249571\"class=\"text-description\">Phil Ruffin in a 2020 interview. He didn&#8217;t bid for Mirage because he wanted the real estate. (Image: Jeff Scheid\/<em>The Nevada Independent<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Treasure Island owner made those remarks in an interview with the <em>Las Vegas Advisor<\/em>, noting he doesn\u2019t like operating agreements.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p><strong>The reason we didn\u2019t bid on the Mirage is that you don\u2019t get the ground and the building. All you get is the operational side,\u201d<\/strong> he told the <em>Las Vegas Advisor<\/em>. <strong>\u201cWhen we buy something, we want the ground and building and that\u2019s been sold VICI Properties.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI) acquired the property assets of the Mirage when it wrapped its purchase of MGM Growth Properties earlier this year. This week, the real estate investment trust (REIT) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-vici-ink-new-90m-lease-accord-for-mirage\/\">announced a new master lease<\/a> with Hard Rock International on the venue. Hard Rock is operating the Mirage and will pay VICI $90 million annually for 25 years with three, 10-year tenant renewal options.<\/p>\n<h2>Hard Rock Paid Pretty Penny<\/h2>\n<p>About a year ago, MGM announced the sale of Mirage\u2019s operating to Hard Rock &#8212; the gaming arm of the Seminole Tribe &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/hard-rock-paying-1-08-billion-for-mirage-gaming-rights\/\">for $1.075 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>The value of the land the integrated resort wasn\u2019t revealed, simply because the property wasn\u2019t for sale. But it\u2019s likely that if the building and land were sold alongside the operating rights, the transaction price would have swelled to $2 billion or beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhat Hard Rock has is an operating agreement, and we don\u2019t like operating agreements. That\u2019s why we didn\u2019t bid. The [Seminoles] have a lot of money. They make a lot of money out of Florida, so they can afford to do whatever the hell they want to do,\u201d added Ruffin in the <em>Las Vegas Advisor<\/em> interview.<\/p>\n<p>While there\u2019s something to be said for operating companies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/casino-reits-could-be-logical-partners-for-six-flags-says-lb\/\">monetizing real estate assets<\/a> &#8212; namely an upfront influx of capital &#8212; there are valid reasons supporting Ruffin\u2019s way of doing things. <strong>Primarily, a casino operator can eventually own the land on which its venue resides, eliminating long-term obligations in the process. Conversely, buying operating rights without receiving a building and land creates long-term payments to a landlord for the buyer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Ruffin\u2019s Other Holdings<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to Treasure Island, Ruffin owns Circus Circus, for which he paid $825 million to MGM three years ago. He owns the land of both venues. He also holds a 50% interest in the non-gaming Trump International Hotel Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Ruffin\u2019s affinity for property ownership, the Circus Circus deal include a massive chunk of undeveloped Strip land. While plans for that acreage haven\u2019t been revealed, there\u2019s chatter that the land could eventually be a site for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-reportedly-making-bid-to-get-oakland-as-to-las-vegas\/\">Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium<\/a>, which affords Ruffin the opportunity to draw substantial value from the parcel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth an estimated $3.2 billion, Ruffin also owns the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, the Nassau Marriott, and the Greyhound Park as well as 13 hotels, among other commercial real estate holdings.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billionaire Phil Ruffin didn\u2019t make a run at the Mirage when MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) was shopping the casino-resort. That&#8217;s because he wanted the land, not just the operating rights. The Treasure Island owner made those remarks in an interview with the Las Vegas Advisor, noting he doesn\u2019t like operating agreements. The reason we didn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":249571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,81886,32093],"tags":[81897,23,81966],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Phil Ruffin Didn&#039;t Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn&#039;t Buy Land<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Phil Ruffin didn&#039;t attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn&#039;t for sale.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phil Ruffin Didn&#039;t Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn&#039;t Buy Land\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phil Ruffin didn&#039;t attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn&#039;t for sale.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-23T22:53:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-24T01:10:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/\",\"name\":\"Phil Ruffin Didn't Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn't Buy Land\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-23T22:53:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-24T01:10:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Phil Ruffin didn't attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn't for sale.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Phil Ruffin in a 2020 interview. He didn't bid for Mirage because he wanted the real estate. (Image: Jeff Scheid\/The Nevada Independent)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ruffin Didn\u2019t Bid for Mirage Because He Wanted Real Estate, Too\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Phil Ruffin Didn't Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn't Buy Land","description":"Phil Ruffin didn't attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn't for sale.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Phil Ruffin Didn't Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn't Buy Land","og_description":"Phil Ruffin didn't attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn't for sale.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-12-23T22:53:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-24T01:10:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/","name":"Phil Ruffin Didn't Bid For Mirage Because He Couldn't Buy Land","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-23T22:53:12+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-24T01:10:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Phil Ruffin didn't attempt to buy Mirage because the real estate wasn't for sale.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PR.jpg","width":2000,"height":1200,"caption":"Phil Ruffin in a 2020 interview. He didn't bid for Mirage because he wanted the real estate. (Image: Jeff Scheid\/The Nevada Independent)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/phil-ruffin-didnt-bid-for-mirage-because-he-couldnt-buy-land\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ruffin Didn\u2019t Bid for Mirage Because He Wanted Real Estate, Too"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}