Last Sunday, Game of Thrones returned with an exposition-heavy season opener. No word yet on whether it dampened business at Nevada brothels but they’ve evidently been taking some inspiration from the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. According to a press release from Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump, the HBO series “has had a considerable and positive impact on the brothel’s business.” (If Rome had done the same, it would still be on cable.) Bordellos figure heavily in Game of Thrones particularly those of the late Lord Peytr “Littlefinger” Baelish “and his brothels were often set pieces for the show’s political intrigue and sexually explicit encounters.”
“To have a brothel so prominently featured in a pop culture hit was a godsend for us,” said Madam Dena. “Game of Thrones inadvertently assisted in promoting legal brothels like Sheri’s Ranch not only by having Littlefinger’s brothels as settings for the action, but also by showcasing some of the hottest couplings, threesomes and orgies ever depicted onscreen. Watching the show was sometimes like an advertisement for brothels.” Even more, customers started wanting to act out their GoT-fueled fantasies (one hopes that few of them were inspired by Dothraki customs). Customers want prostitutes to dress up as Daenerys Targaryen and Sansa Stark, and to be trussed in the dungeon like Theon Greyjoy. Fortunately, they leave—unlike Theon—with their private parts intact.
There’s even a “safe word,” perhaps “White Walker.” Lest Cersei Lannister fans feel left out, the “Walk of Shame” is “tremendously popular,” for those who want offal thrown at them to fuel their need for degradation. “While we used to put dog collars on clients and walk them though the brothel’s bar to appease their humiliation fetish, Game of Thrones took humiliation to a whole new level,” says sex worker Allisson. “Since season five, we now have to be ready for erotic humiliation that involves parading our consenting client, in various stages of undress, around the entirety of our twenty-acre property for all of our guests to see.” The only downside of GoT? “With this season marking the end of the series, it’s disheartening that soon we won’t have any new Game of Thrones related fetishes for our clients to discover and explore.” Well, all good things must come to a conclusion, hopefully one that finds Tyrion Lannister on the winning side.
* Internet-betting analysts are making heavy weather over a “record month” in Pennsylvania. Big deal. Sports betting’s only been in business there since January. The latest numbers show $44.5 million in wagers and $5.5 million in revenue. The business is ramping up 
quickly but it’s early days yet and Keystone State books are still coming on line. The commonwealth’s got a long way to go to catch New Jersey‘s $372.5 million. As sports-betting analyst Dustin Gouker admits, “The growth of Pennsylvania’s market is stunted without online sports betting. Online bets account for about 80 percent of New Jersey’s handle. When the time comes that online bets are legalized and regulated in Pennsylvania, then the industry will be poised to challenge larger markets for supremacy.”
For the moment, Rivers Casino ($12 million) is tops, followed by SugarHouse ($9 million), Parx Casino ($8 million), Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course ($5 million), Harrah’s Philadelphia ($4 million), South Philadelphia Race & Sportsbook [owned by Parx] $3.5 million and Valley Forge Casino Resort ($3 million split between two books). That still leaves a lot of heavyweights—think Sands Bethlehem—on the outside looking in, so we have a very incomplete idea of how potent the Pennsylvania market will be.
