Strip Club News

Lawyers representing a group of Texas strip clubs have gone to court to ask a judge to block a state mandated $5 cover charge tax at strip clubs scheduled to go into effect at the start of the new year.

State legislators have targeted strip clubs to help pay for more welfare benefits. The tax, or surcharge as they call it, is expected to raise $40 million each year. (Doing simple math indicates that eight million patrons are expected to visit strip clubs in Texas each year—quite a lot.) About half of the money expected to be raised is supposed to be directed toward helping victims of sexual assault while the other half is planned to be used on health assistance for poor Texas residents without health insurance.

Clubs are arguing that the tax violates free speech provisions by unconstitutionally targeting a protected form of expression. This $5 per patron tax isn’t required by law to be passed on to customers. However, this tax applies to no other business establishments or nightclubs other than those that feature nude or topless dancing.

One must wonder why the burden to pay for health insurance for low-income people and sexual assault services must fall on the backs of law-abiding strip club patrons.

Rick’s Cabaret International recently identified the strip club it previously declined to name when it announced it entered into a letter of intent to purchase a club in Florida for $25 million this past October.

Rick’s acquired Tootsies Cabaret in Miami Gardens, FL. Tootsies is an all-nude club that features full bar service. The club boasts that it has 250 dancers and is open seven days a week, offering “full friction” lap dances. Tootsies is large, with 47,000 square feet of space on multiple levels. The gentlemen’s club also has a full restaurant that serves dinner and breakfast (open until 6 AM on weekends) and a five acre parking lot.

Rick’s made the acquisition by paying $15 million in cash and giving the prior owners a $10 million promisory note payable in three years.

Tootsies is the 15th adult nightclub in Rick’s portfolio of clubs across the United States. The deal closed on November, 30th and Rick’s officially took over management on December 1st.