Naturally, we forwarded this one to Topless Vegas author Arnold Snyder, who’s by far the best-placed person we know to address this. Take it, Arnold.
"There are numerous different adult-entertainment scenes in Las Vegas that change in different ways.
"The topless casino shows change primarily due to the public’s changing tastes. The casino shows continue to get more erotic as the showrooms attempt to compete with the burgeoning strip club industry. Shows like X Burlesque at the Flamingo, Crazy Girls at the Riviera, and Crazy Horse Paris at MGM Grand are far sexier than the old-style Vegas topless shows like Folies Bergère, that closed at the Trop last year after a 50-year run, or Jubilee!, that’s still playing at Bally’s after more than 25 years. Some might lament the disappearance of the old-style Vegas shows, but many people prefer the new style with modern music and, frankly, much more erotic dancing and a greater emphasis on nudity.
"The topless pool scene, on the other hand, was definitely wilder a few years ago than it is today. The Sapphire Pool at the Rio--which was a playground for the Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club’s strippers--was closed in 2009 after a prostitution bust. The Flamingo’s topless GO Pool no longer has its floating stripper pole, where topless sunbathers could formerly entertain other guests of the pool with impromptu wet pole dancing, the victim of county laws. Still, Vegas does boast 11 topless pools where the parties get pretty wild, and I don’t know of any other city in the country where there are topless pools open to the public.
As for the strip clubs, they have been going through some pretty drastic changes in the past few years as a result of the economy. As the city was booming, strip clubs (like casinos) were being built and expanded to accommodate the growing influx of both tourists and local customers. Now, as the volume of tourists has diminished and more and more local residents find themselves out of work, the strip clubs have been competing viciously for the smaller base of customers. Normally, this type of competition would be a boon to consumers, as it would lead to lower prices. But in Vegas, what has developed is a system whereby the strip clubs pay the cabbies a head fee for customers dropped at their doors, so the clubs have raised prices for the customers in order to get back the money they’re paying to the cabbies.
Entry fees at many clubs are higher, as are drink prices, with quite a few clubs charging $10 or more just for a domestic beer. If you’re going to a strip club with the intention of drinking, you should note that the price of a single beer runs from a low of $3 to a high of $12, depending on the club. Amenities within the clubs have improved, however, with quite a few clubs now boasting very plush VIP rooms and elegant separate rooms for private shows. Because the dancers are also victims of the economic downturn, with so many customers with less "mad money" than they used to have, dancers in some clubs are now open to negotiating prices for lap dances and VIP-room time. That often works in the customer’s favor.
