Tuesday, August 12, 2008

BREAKING: Ladies Nights Doomed?

I just broke this news for The New York Times about the Nevada Equal Rights Commission finding that gender-based pricing violates Nevada statutes. It's an open question whether it's enforceable and I've also posted an analysis at the Las Vegas Weekly's site on that side of the matter. Plus, we'll discuss this on the podcast tonight as well quite a bit, so grab that show when it's up on Thursday.

I find the whole topic fascinating and encourage you to chime on on whether Strip attractions ought to be allowed to charge women less than men for the same services. You can read NERC's ruling -- love the part about women's body parts falling out -- by clicking here.

MGM Mirage, which owns three topless pools and hosts a few nightclubs with gender-based prices, disagreed with NERC. Here's what Alan Feldman, MGM Mirage veep, wrote me in a statement:
*We believe that the longstanding practice of many Nevada hospitality industries
to charge different entry/cover charges to men and women continues to be lawful.

*The state's public accommodation statute does not prohibit different cover
charges on the basis of gender, and never intended to prohibit such practices as
"ladies nights."

*Taken to its logical conclusion, NERC's decision calls into question such
practices as charging different prices for seniors or children at movies or
attractions such as museums or amusement parks. It might also apply to charges
for services such as haircuts and dry cleaning. Also, based on NERC's reasoning,
it is unclear whether a movie theatre would be permitted from prohibiting a
minor from entering an R-rated movie unaccompanied by an adult.

*While we are continuing to review the Nevada Equal Right Commission's position
in the Las Vegas Athletic Club matter, at this time we do not intend to change
our cover charge practices.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve - GREAT work in the NYT . . . but MGM MIRAGE has TEN strip properties, not nine . . . keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it 9? Here's what i can think of, from south to north:

mandalay
luxor
excal
ny-ny
monte
mgm
bellagio
mirage
ti

what's missing? Does the Four Seasons count? I don't think anyone would call slots-o-fun a resort...

Anonymous said...

Slots-O-Fun may not count, but Circus-Circus does. Anything that cash flows over $40 Million a year counts as major in my book.
Jeff in OKC