FOX Bet CEO Kip Levin talks about the growth in the sports betting industry before the Super Bowl.
Elizabeth Reed dances at the Scores Gentleman’s Club, a strip club near the stadium that hosts the Super Bowl, and says that wearing masks while working is like “doing aerobic exercise” with your nose and mouth covered.
It’s uncomfortable and sweaty, and your makeup is usually spoiled. She is also afraid to dance around customers using thinner facial covers.
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“It’s not the same,” she said, adding that she doesn’t want to complain because frontline health care professionals need to wear masks for hours on end. “It was an adjustment. Now, I stay away from the customer most of the time. “
Still, she hopes to earn $ 1,000 a night during Super Bowl week and wear sequin masks that match her outfits.
When Tampa was chosen to host this year’s Super Bowl, strip club owners anticipated an unexpected week. Now, however, making rain is less guaranteed. There is a global pandemic, mask mandates across the city and an audience limit of one third of the stadium’s capacity, so only 22,000 fans can go. In addition, the hometown, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is in the game, which means that fewer people will be traveling and spending money. This leaves the owners and dancers of the numerous Tampa strip clubs concerned about what will happen this year.
“I am thinking that we will have an increase in business, but it will not be like before,” said Joe Redner, owner of Mons Venus, a striptease club totally naked within walking distance of Raymond James Stadium. “This COVID makes it a totally different world.”
The last time the Super Bowl was in Tampa – in 2009 – Redner’s landmark nightclub increased its coverage cost from $ 20 to $ 50 in the week of the big game.
“People were lining up outside, handing us $ 50 bills,” he recalled.
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Strip clubs, like bars and restaurants, struggled in the COVID-19 era. At the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, clubs were closed. When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis allowed bars and clubs to reopen, some strip clubs started offering food. Others became even more creative: they promoted online access to dancers for a fee.
Eventually, the clubs reopened. In Tampa, this meant that artists and customers had to wear masks in an attempt to reduce the spread of the coronavirus – even during lap dances – by decreasing wild fun.
“It’s slow. People are not leaving. We are still doing business and surviving,” said Redner, but acknowledged that business is nothing like being in the pre-pandemic.
Julio Quin, general manager of Scores Gentlemen’s Club, gestures during an interview on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, in Tampa, Florida. Workers in Tampa’s renowned strip club industry are concerned, but hopeful that despite the pandemic stifling business, they ‘
Reed, the Scores dancer, said customers may not go out as much, but they make up for it by spending more when they do and expect it to happen during game week.
“Customers are more generous. When they go out, they have more fun, ”she said.
Tampa has earned a reputation for its strip clubs. It all started with Redner’s much publicized fight to allow the complete nude dance. Ultimately, Redner expanded his business portfolio, ran for public office and became something of a popular hero for the First Amendment.
Wyclef Jean referred to the Redner club in his 2009 song “Perfect Gentleman”. When the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Arizona Cardinals in that year’s Super Bowl, there were at least 43 strip clubs in the Tampa area, many grouped around the Stadium. City leaders enacted a rule that prohibited dancers from staying within 2 meters of a patron. Dozens of dancers were arrested, but today the law is rarely enforced, increasing the city’s reputation.
“At one point in this city, football was not the only contact sport in Tampa,” said former mayor Bob Buckhorn.
Julio Quin, the Scores manager in Tampa, worked at the chain’s clubs in Miami during last year’s Super Bowl in that city. He is preparing for a solid week and is optimistic.
“Imagine your best day ever and multiply it by two,” he said, adding that the club spent $ 250,000 on unique notes as a tip for strippers last year.
The Scores have a strict mask policy and the tables are spaced two meters apart, with leather chairs pointed at two posts in the middle of the room.
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Quin acknowledges that there are likely to be fewer customers this year – the club’s capacity is 185, which includes dancers and staff – but he thinks people who are traveling to the game or to the party are going to spend a lot. He is hiring a handful of dancers from outside the city to increase his schedule and celebrities have contacted him about private parties, he said.
“I imagine the night before the game will be the craziest,” he said. “The line is going to be around the building. All the exotic cars outside, and the carpet will be decorated with dollar bills. “