To build his new water park in the desert, Ruffin says, “I’m transferring some water rights from my house.” “Circus Circus was started on that basis, as a family-oriented place.” Many people who grew up in Las Vegas went to Circus Circus’ Midway to watch acrobats, play games and win stuffed animals. “Mandalay Bay is a very different place, a place for mothers to take their children,” Ruffin says.

The plan is to use some of the land for a water park with sand beaches, a lazy river and a wave pool, like the popular water attraction at Mandalay Bay. “Yes, it’s a big piece of dirt!” he says. Perhaps even more important, Ruffin’s purchase included a total of 102 acres of land.

“It used to do $1 million a month.”Ī sign outside the Slots A Fun casino, part of Circus Circus in Las Vegas, NV, January 2020. “Slots A Fun will be redone,” vows Ruffin. The deal also includes a separate but attached casino. “We’ll upgrade Adventuredome, which has 2.5 million visitors a year, currently $30 million volume.” We’ll put a theater in with Cirque Du Soleil,” a 2,000-seat addition he estimates at $11 million. “We plan to remodel slowly so we don’t take too many rooms out of service. “To build a new casino hotel these days, you can’t do it for less than a million dollars a room.” That would make replacing Circus Circus a $4 billion proposition.

“We made an offer we thought was preemptive, and we were high bidder.” Ruffin, who has had a gaming license in Nevada since his 1997 purchase of the old Frontier, added, “We were approved unanimously by the Nevada Gambilng Board.”Ĭircus Circus, opened in 1968, looks a little tired. “We’d been trying to buy the thing for a long time and someone from MGM came by and said they finally put it on the market,” Ruffin says. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Getty Images MGM Resorts International announced on Tuesday that it is selling the Las Vegas Strip property for USD 825 million to an affiliate of Treasure Island Hotel & Casino owner Phil Ruffin. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 16: An exterior view shows the Circus Circus Las Vegas on October 16.

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