Editorial: Kickbacks from brothels

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

L as Vegas Valley taxi drivers routinely receive what amounts to kickbacks from local businesses for delivering people to their doorsteps. But police say that those destinations often include illegal brothels, and that drivers are being paid to hook up tourists with prostitutes.

A story by the Las Vegas Sun's Abigail Goldman on Sunday told of strip clubs giving drivers hundreds of dollars in cash, DVD players, flat-screen televisions and even free nights at legal brothels outside of Clark County in exchange for the drivers bringing tourists to their doorsteps. The practice is legal in Clark County as long as the drivers don't intentionally divert a passenger from going to a business that does not offer drivers such tips or rewards.

However, police told the Sun that taxi and limousine drivers also are receiving hefty cash payments from owners of illegal brothels who routinely give the drivers business cards detailing the kickback amounts they can expect and a contact phone number. The agreements are so widely used that drivers actually are assigned personal identification numbers that they use when checking on rates for a prospective customer.

We are not keen on the idea of drivers receiving kickbacks after delivering customers to businesses' doorsteps. Allowing businesses to give these drivers financial incentives to route customers their way creates an unseemly atmosphere in which drivers can take advantage of tourists.

State legislators tried to outlaw all kickbacks for taxi drivers through an amendment that was tacked onto a bill during the Nevada Legislature's 2005 session. The measure, though, was unfair in that it wouldn't have applied to limo drivers and was quietly added in the middle of the night.

But it is the height of vulgarity for taxi and limo drivers to be acting as brothel brokers - some of whom are receiving PINs as if they are engaged in a legitimate business transaction. These drivers should be aggressively pursued as accessories to prostitution and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.