Ruffin also purchased several other gaming properties, including the Casino Del Sol in Tuscon, Arizona. In 1985, he purchased his first dog track, the Wichita Greyhound Part, in Wichita, Kansas, for $1.5 million and turned it into a profitable business within a few years.Īfter that, he would go on to acquire several other dog tracks across the country, including the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park in Massachusetts and the Mobile Greyhound Park in Alabama. In the 1980s, Ruffin entered the gaming industry after acquiring several dog tracks across the United States through a combination of shrewd business deals and strategic partnerships. Phil Ruffin Professional Career and Enterpreneurship He would later go on to acquire more gas stations and start investing in real estate. He opened his first gas station in 1959 after taking a $3,000 loan from his father. After just one year, though, he dropped out.Īfter he dropped out of college, he started to sell hamburgers with his buddies, he used the profits to buy convenience stores. Ruffin graduated from high school in 1953 and enrolled in Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. His parents ran a grocery store and gas station, where Ruffin worked from a young age. Phil Gene Ruffin was born in Texas on March 14th, 1935, to a working-class family as the second youngest of eight children. Has donated millions of dollars to charity over the years.A former professional poker player who competed in the World Series of Poker in the 1980s and 1990s.

Inducted into the Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada's Business Hall of Fame.A self-made billionaire who started his career with a single gas station.

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