Is prostitution really bad for Nevada's economy?

These businesses generally cater to tourists and truckers. “It is important symbolically, just because it adds to the ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ Sin City environment,” says Barb Brents, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and an expert on the sex trade. “But it’s really a very small industry.” Overall, Nevada’s brothels employ about 1,000 people, total, and have combined revenues in the low tens of millions of dollars per year…

Certainly, there are some reports, like Reid’s, of companies choosing not to set up shop next to painted-pink ranches, or even in the state at all. But those reports remain anecdotal, and conflicting. Las Vegas’ mayor said the topic does not often come up when he speaks to businesses about moving to the state. Arnold says polls routinely show the majority of Nevadan business owners and residents support the status quo. “The Northern Nevada Development Authority says it has never heard of a business turn that part of Nevada down because of the brothels,” he says, a point supported by the authority itself.
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Brents also says she doubts the impact is big. “Throughout history, for the last 30 or 40 years, state officials have felt various degrees of embarrassment about the existence of the brothels,” she says. “The casino industry has a love-hate relationship with them too.” That’s not because they tarnish the reputation of Vegas as a tourist destination—but because “it tarnishes the image of gaming as clean.” Ultimately, she says, there is little to back Reid’s assertion, true or not.