[1][2] Ruffin was born in Potter County near Amarillo, Texas, the son of Blanche (née Cohlmia) and Roy J.
[10] Ruffin is best known for his purchase of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, one of the Las Vegas Strip's venerable properties.
When he bought the resort from Margaret Elardi and her family, it had been mired in a longtime strike, the longest running in American history, with employees represented by the Culinary Workers Union, one of the most powerful labor organizations in Las Vegas.
In 2005, Ruffin announced plans to demolish the New Frontier and replace it in 2005 with a new resort to be called The Montreaux, but the development never got off the ground.
[11] MGM Mirage sold Treasure Island Hotel and Casino (TI) to Ruffin in March 2009.
In February 2018 he said he had turned down a "huge" offer for TI from a Chinese firm, explaining that Strip assets are "irreplaceable."
"[14] Ruffin's joint venture with his friend Donald Trump involved a portion of the New Frontier land.
The Trump International Hotel and Tower, built immediately adjacent to the Fashion Show Mall, broke ground in July 2005.
Ruffin plans to add to the property a swimming pool complex with a wave machine, sand beaches and a lazy river ride.
[20] The referendum to expand gambling at the dog track was long opposed by Kansas state Senate President Susan Wagle, a Republican who owned bingo parlors with her husband.
[25] In December 2013, Ruffin purchased the assets of Torrance, California-based WelCom Products, makers of the Magna Cart line of folding hand trucks sold across the US and over 25 countries worldwide.
That idea did not pan out, but sometime later, in Las Vegas, "Ruffin took Trump to a Nordstrom parking lot to show him a parcel of undeveloped land."
Trump had flown on Ruffin's private jet to Moscow in 2013 for the Trump-owned Miss Universe Pageant.
Former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele provided reports of such activities, although they have not been substantiated in any major media outlets.
[27] Ruffin loaned Trump his personal 737 BBJ jet to fly to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on August 31, 2016.
[27] The super PAC shut down and refunded Ruffin's money after the Washington Post reported on its close association with Trump's campaign.
Ruffin told Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal in February 2018 that he was "thrilled to death" with Trump's tax cuts.
On January 6, 2008, the then-72-year-old Ruffin married the then-26-year-old supermodel and Miss Ukraine 2004 title holder Oleksandra Nikolayenko.
[39] Ruffin funded "an organic food and learning initiative" at the Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, which his two youngest children attend.