Trouble in Sin City: Protecting Sexy Workers' Civil Rights

INTRODUCTION "What happens here, stays here," is the familiar motto that Las Vegas promoters adopted in 2003 to encourage more visitors in search of adult entertainment. (1) While Las Vegas has always been known for its libertarian attitudes toward gambling and sexually provocative shows, after a short, failed attempt during the 1990's to characterize itself as a family destination, (2) the city has turned up the heat. (3) Las Vegas, which relies increasingly on selling sex appeal to promote its value to the public, has become the number one adult entertainment destination in the United States. (4) Of course "Gentlemen's Clubs" (strip clubs) thrive in Las Vegas, and prostitution, both illegal (in Clark and Washoe Counties, homes to Las Vegas and Reno) and legal (within a one hour's drive of the Las Vegas Strip) is ever-present. However, the more surprising change in Las Vegas is the ever-increasing sexualization of the resorts and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. (5) Following the lead of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and the Palms, many casinos have sexualized the cocktail servers, pool attendants, and even in some places, the card dealers who are employed in their establishments. (6) In the most successful resorts, the sexualization goes only one way: it is aimed at pleasing the heterosexual male. (7) The place oozes with masculinity and female sexuality. Female, but not male, workers are highly sexualized. Casinos have added "pleasure pits" on casino floors where women either tend bar or serve drinks in even skimpier costumes than those worn on the casino floor. (8) It is not only the casino floors, however, where hyper-sexualization appears and is used as a marketing tool. Casinos feature nightclubs, "European" (topless) pools, and ultra lounges that restrict access to adults and specialize in adult entertainment. (9) All of this hyper-sexualization is designed to improve the casinos' bottom line, and to some extent, it appears to have worked. At least until the recent economic downturn, the Las Vegas casinos demonstrated extraordinary growth early in the twenty-first century. (10) There is, however, trouble in paradise. A number of these clubs (both day and night) have been sued; (11) others have closed due to illegal prostitution; (12) some have paid large fines to the Nevada Gaming Control Board because of illegal activity; (13) in others, police have arrested patrons for prostitution and illegal drugs. (14) The most recent and perhaps most troubling case is a lawsuit brought by a young woman who worked at a nightclub operated by The Light Group, (15) a management company that runs nightclubs and restaurants in Las Vegas. Allegations in the lawsuit included prostitution, illegal drugs, and the use of sex and drugs to groom an underage girl for employment as a VIP hostess in a nightclub located in a casino. (16) These allegations do not stand alone. Other workers and the Gaming Control Board have made numerous allegations that raise serious issues concerning the safety and civil rights of women working in the casinos. This Article examines the legal issues surrounding the hyper-sexualization of women workers in the casinos, with an emphasis on women workers' legal rights to be free of sex discrimination and sexual harassment on the casino floor, in the pleasure pits, in the pool clubs, and in the nightclubs. It will consider how federal, state, and county law can protect these women without unduly interfering with the economic benefits to the casinos, the community, and the individual workers. The Article gives special consideration to the role the state-licensing agency--the Nevada Gaming Commission--should play in regulating sexual and/or sexualizing behavior that may be harmful to women employees. The Article is relevant not only to Nevada casinos. Across the country, states are legalizing casino gambling and the casinos in other states are also attempting to offer highly-sexualized environments. …