Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Six counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark (which contains Las Vegas) and Washoe (which contains Reno), are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.
The vast majority of prostitution in Nevada takes place illegally in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno. About 66 times more money is spent by customers on illegal prostitution in Nevada than in the regulated brothels.
History
Prostitution has been present in Nevada since the early days of statehood. Nevada joined the Union in 1864, and although its population grew from 6,857 people in pre-statehood 1860 to over 40,000 in 1870, and the number of residents had fluctuated throughout the years, it was only in the mid-1930s that the population reached 100,000 people, and only in the mid-1950s that it reached 200,000 people. Nevada's population in the early decades consisted of considerably more men that women, given the history of mining in Nevada, with three quarters of the population being male at the 1870 census. Historically, Nevada's legislature considered prostitution a local issue, leaving it up to counties and cities to regulate, with only minimal regulation at state level, namely prohibiting brothels near schools or churches. In 1937, a law was enacted to require weekly health checks of all prostitutes. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an order to suppress prostitution near military bases—affecting the red-light districts of Reno and Las Vegas. When this order was lifted in 1948, Reno officials tried to shut down a brothel as a public nuisance; this action was upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in 1949. In 1951, both Reno and Las Vegas had closed their red-light districts as public nuisances, but brothels continued to exist throughout the state.
In 1971, Joe Conforte, owner of a brothel called Mustang Ranch, near Reno, in Storey County, convinced county officials to enact an ordinance which would provide for the licensing of brothels and prostitutes, thus avoiding the threat of being closed down as a public nuisance.
Officials in Las Vegas, afraid that Conforte would use the same technique to open a brothel nearby, convinced the legislature, in 1971, to enact legislation prohibiting the legalization of prostitution in counties with a population above a certain threshold, tailored to apply only to Clark County.
In 1977, county officials in Nye County tried to shut down Walter Plankinton's Chicken Ranch as a public nuisance; brothels did not have to be licensed in that county at the time, and several others were operating. Plankinton filed suit, claiming that the 1971 state law had implicitly removed the assumption that brothels are public nuisances per se. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed with this interpretation in 1978, and so the Chicken Ranch was allowed to operate. In another case, brothel owners in Lincoln County protested when the county outlawed prostitution in 1978, having issued licenses for seven years. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled, however, that the county had the right to do so.
A state law prohibiting the advertising of brothels in counties which have outlawed prostitution was enacted in 1979. It was promptly challenged on First Amendment grounds, but in 1981, the Nevada Supreme Court declared it to be constitutional. (Princess Sea Industries, one of the parties involved in the case, was Plankinton's company that owned the Chicken Ranch.) In July 2007, the law was overturned by a U.S. District judge as "overly broad", and advertising in Las Vegas started soon after. In March 2010, the district judge's decision was reversed back by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The ACLU appealed to the full Ninth Circuit Court in March 2010. It further appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 2011, but the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. The ban on brothels advertising therefore remains in force.
While brothels and prostitutes are subject to federal income tax and also pay local fees, Nevada has no state income tax, and brothels are exempt from the state entertainment tax and do not pay any other state taxes. In 2005, brothel owners lobbied to be taxed in order to increase the legitimacy of the business, but the legislature declined. Brothels pay taxes to their respective counties. Lyon County receives approximately $400,000 to $500,000 per year from these taxes.
In November 2005, former prostitute and madam Heidi Fleiss said that she would partner with brothel owner Joe Richards to turn Richards' existing Cherry Patch Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nye County, Nevada, into an establishment that would employ male prostitutes and cater exclusively to female customers, a first in Nevada. In 2009, however, she said that she had abandoned her plans to open such a brothel due to wishing to avoid having to "deal with all the nonsense in the sex business" and preferring to focus on renewable energy which would be "perfect for Nevada. That's where the money is. That's the wave of the future."
On December 11, 2009, the Nevada State Board of Health unanimously agreed to add urethral examinations to the guidelines, thus allowing male sex workers to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
Legal situation
Under Nevada state law, any county with a population of up to 700,000, as of the last decennial census is allowed to license brothels if it so chooses. Incorporated towns and cities in counties that allow prostitution may regulate the trade further or prohibit it altogether.
Currently 6 out of Nevada's 17 counties have active brothels, all of which are rural counties. As of September 2023, there are 19 active legal brothels in the state.
State law prohibits prostitution in Clark County (which contains Las Vegas), and under county or municipal law in Carson City (an independent city), and these other counties: Douglas, Eureka, Lincoln, Pershing, and Washoe (which contains Reno). The other 10 Nevada counties permit licensed brothels in certain specified areas or cities. All 10 of these rural counties have had at least one legal brothel in operation subsequent to 1971, but many of these brothels were financially unsuccessful or ran afoul of State health regulations. As of 2016, only seven of these counties have active brothels, while the other three (Churchill County, Esmeralda County and Humboldt County) no longer do.
The precise licensing requirements vary by county. License fees for brothels range from an annual $100,000 in Storey County to an annual $200,000 in Lander County. Licensed prostitutes must be at least 21 years old, except in Storey County and Lyon County (where the minimum age is 18).
The brothels and their employees must register with the county sheriff and receive regular medical checkups. Brothels have existed in Nevada since the old mining days of the 1800s and were first licensed in 1971. The legendary Mustang Ranch operated from 1971 through 1999, when it was forfeited to the federal government following a series of convictions for tax fraud, racketeering, and other crimes.
Nevada law requires that registered brothel prostitutes be tested weekly (by a cervical specimen) for gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis, and monthly for HIV and syphilis; furthermore, condoms are mandatory for all oral sex and sexual intercourse. Brothel owners may be held liable if customers become infected with HIV after a prostitute has tested positive for the virus. Women work a legally mandated minimum of nine days for each work period.
Nevada has laws against engaging in prostitution outside of licensed brothels, against encouraging others to become prostitutes, and against living off the proceeds of a prostitute.
In June 2009, then-Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed the most stringent punishments nationwide for child prostitution and pandering. Assembly Bill 380, which allows for fines of $500,000 for those convicted of trafficking prostitutes younger than 14 and $100,000 for trafficking prostitutes ages 14 to 17. Both the House and the Senate unanimously approved the bill, which went into effect October 1, 2009.
Overview State legislation Prostitution is only legal in licensed brothels. Brothels are prohibited in counties with more than 700,000 inhabitants. The use of condoms by prostitutes is mandatory. Prostitutes must be tested for STIs weekly/monthly.
County legislation County Prostitution legality Legislation Number of brothels (as of February 2018) Notes Carson City County Code, Title 8, Chapter 8.04.110 0 Churchill County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 5.20 0 The last brothel license was surrendered in 2004. No licenses have been issued since. Clark County Nevada Statue NRS 244.345County Code, Title 12, Chapter 12.08 0 Douglas County County Code, Title 9, Chapter 9.20 0 Elko County County Code, Title 7, Chapter 1.6 Carlin: 2Elko: 4Wells: 2 Esmeralda County Ordinance 154 0 Eureka County County Code, Title 6, Chapter 60 0 Humboldt County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 5.08 0 Lander County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 5.16 Battle Mountain: 1 Lincoln County County Code, Title 7, Chapter 2 0 Lyon County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 3 Mound House: 4 No more than 4 brothel licenses may be issued. Mineral County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 5Mina: 1 For the purposes of licensing, Mineral County is divided into 2 geographical areas: Mina district and Hawthorne district. Licenses are limited to no more than 2 in each area Nye County County Code, Title 9, Chapter 9.20 Amargosa Valley: 1Crystal: 1Pahrump: 2 No more than one brothel license can be issued for Amargosa Valley. Pershing County County Code, Title 9, Chapter 9.08 0 Storey County County Code, Title 5, Chapter 5.16 near Sparks: 1 Washoe County County Code, Chapter 50.238, 53.170.25 0 White Pine County County Code, Title 10, Chapter 10.36; Title 17, Chapter 17.60 Ely: 2
Legal brothels
As of February 2018, 21 legal brothels exist in the state employing about 200 women at any given time. In some locales, there exist multi-unit complexes of several separate brothels run by the same owner.
As of September 2023, only 19 legal brothels remain open in the state, located in just 6 rural counties.
Mandatory HIV testing began in 1986 and a mandatory condom law was passed in 1988. A study conducted in 1995 in two brothels found that condom use in the brothels was consistent and sexually transmitted diseases were accordingly absent. The study also found that few of the prostitutes used condoms in their private lives.
Illegal prostitution Illegal prostitution is the most common form of prostitution in Nevada; the offense is a misdemeanor. The cities of Las Vegas and Reno have worked to expand their tourism base by attracting families to the hotels and casinos. Accordingly, the state legislature has made prostitution illegal in Clark County, and law enforcement agencies have tried to eliminate the once-rampant street prostitution, enacting legislation against it in 1971. Nevertheless, prostitutes continue to work in casinos, where they wait in bars and attempt to make contact with potential clients. Of all the prostitution business in Nevada, only about 10% is legal, and 90% of illegal prostitution occurs in Las Vegas. The vast majority of prostitution in Nevada takes place illegally in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno. Legal prostitution in Nevada grosses about $75 million per year while illegal prostitution in the Las Vegas area grosses about $5 billion per year. Some 300–400 prostitutes are arrested each month by the Las Vegas police.