As he continues to lead the pack for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump may be getting back into the business of gambling.
Trump’s longtime friend and Las Vegas casino owner Phil Ruffin told the Wall Street Journal that he hopes to build a casino to go alongside the real estate mogul’s Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
Ruffin told the Journal that the plans are still in a very early stage, although he expects efforts to pick up over 2016. Additionally, he said that the Trump Organization would be a 50% owner.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son who is running the family’s hotel business, told the Journal that he supported Ruffin’s plans. “If he wanted to do [the casino], we would certainly do it,” Eric Trump said. “[Ruffin] is one of our closest friends. We’re almost inseparable.”
The Trump Hotel reportedly cost $800 million to build and opened in 2008. The proposed casino would go on the site of a parking lot used by the hotel, and the buildings would connect, Ruffin told the Journal.
A potential return to the casino business for Trump comes after a number of failed attempts in Atlantic City over the last few decades. His casinos in New Jersey went bankrupt four times, the Journal reported. Trump is no longer involved with them.
Coins2Day has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment and will update this story if they respond.