--- title: Republican Convention: Casino Owner Phil Ruffin to Speak description: Longtime Donald Trump business partner Phil Ruffin will speak at the Republican National Convention. canonical: https://time.com/4415131/republican-convention-phil-ruffin/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-21T00:22:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:54.442Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Casino Owner Speaking at the Republican Convention og:description: "I told him don’t run … I said you are king of the world for God’s sake." og:url: https://time.com/4415131/republican-convention-phil-ruffin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ddd6f1056e16649/69889cebe20a87a252a91ae6/donald-trump-phil-ruffin-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3077 og:image:height: 1731 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Casino Owner Speaking at the Republican Convention twitter:description: "I told him don’t run … I said you are king of the world for God’s sake." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ddd6f1056e16649/69889cebe20a87a252a91ae6/donald-trump-phil-ruffin-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Casino Owner Speaking at the Republican Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 21, 2016 12:22 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump applauds as Treasure Island Casino owner Phil Ruffin speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 28, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump applauds as Treasure Island Casino owner Phil Ruffin speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 28, 2016. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 21, 2016 12:22 AM UTC Recent Republican National Conventions have not had a speaker like Phil Ruffin. A casino tycoon Donald Trump recently joked would [manage America’s China policy](http://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article27157705.html) in his administration, Ruffin is Trump’s longtime business partner and an early donor to his campaign. The two men have split ownership of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas. Trump was the best man at Ruffin’s wedding. The real estate mogul was so moved by the event, he[ picked up the $300,000 tab.](https://next.ft.com/content/2af17b9c-f71a-11e5-803c-d27c7117d132) Ruffin and Trump share similar business focuses. Trump has built himself by buying or building real estate and selling it for profit. Ruffin [bought a Las Vegas hotel](http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1868932,00.html) at the height of the recession, an investment that has paid off. He starts work from the [top floor of his casino](http://hauteliving.com/2015/07/phil-ruffin-reveals-the-secrets-of-running-a-billion-dollar-empire/577539/) at 5 a.m. each morning by reading customer complaints. The billionaires have been intertwined on the campaign trail. Before a super PAC closed because it was too close to Trump’s campaign, Ruffin was its largest donor. [He gave $1 million](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/04/longtime-trump-friend-seeded-pro-trump-super-pac-with-1-million/), money that was ultimately refunded. Ruffin hosted Trump’s victory party at his casino when the Republican presidential nominee won the Nevada caucuses. Ruffin [told the Wichita _Eagle_](http://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article90592462.html)he wrote his speech for the convention from scratch and will speak for four minutes. He was an early Trump supporter, telling FOX Business in 2015 that Trump’s rising poll numbers were attributable to “a movement (Trump) has walked into.” In a May profile of Ruffin and his relationship with Trump, the [Financial Times quoted](https://next.ft.com/content/2af17b9c-f71a-11e5-803c-d27c7117d132) Ruffin about what he told Trump before the nominee jumped into the presidential race. “I told him don’t run. … I said you are king of the world for God’s sake,” Ruffin said. “You are making a couple hundred million a year. You’ve got all this stuff. 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