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Phil Ruffin, former owner of New Frontier, is buying the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino from MGM Mirage for $775 million. MGM Mirage said in a statement Monday that Ruffin, whose interests include casinos and greyhound race tracks, purchased the property through Ruffin Acquisition LLC. MGM Mirage acquired Treasure Island as part of the company's $6.4 billion purchase of Mirage Resorts in 2000.

The move has eased discomfort about whether MGM Mirage will run into a liquidity crisis as it tries to seal up financing for its $11 billion CityCenter resort in Las Vegas amid the credit crunch.

Ruffin announced that he will keep the same manager and business at Treasure Island and that the pirate show and Mystere will continue at the property.

Treasure Island was opened in 1993 by Steve Wynn at a cost of $450 million as a sister resort to The Mirage. Treasure Island has 2,885 rooms, including 220 suites, and a 90,000-square-foot casino. MGM Mirage officials would not comment on the deal and Ruffin could not be reached.

Agents may remember Ruffin selling the New Frontier Hotel & Casino in May 2007 for more than $1.24 billion to Elad Group. The New Frontier was closed in July 2007 and demolished in November 2007 to make way for a planned $5.7 billion mixed-use development modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York, which Elad Group owns.