LAS VEGAS — Last month, LFP Inc. chief executive Larry Flynt said he hoped to expand, among his diverse array of holdings, the company's gambling division.
On Friday, Flynt's Hustler club in Las Vegas filed an application with the Nevada Gaming Commission to become the first strip club with a sports book.
LFP Inc. company officials told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday that they hope to offer sports betting, under the guidance of a seasoned sports book director, by February.
Hustler wants to offer free lap dances for accumulating betting points, and use hand-held devices so customers can make bets while receiving them, according to Al Taylor, a publicist for the company.
“We have good attorneys. We’ll take it to the Supreme Court if we have to. We think this is what the public will demand,” Taylor told the Review-Journal.
Flynt has recently said he's trying to grow or exploit his brands further. He revealed in September that he's considering taking LFP Inc. public through an initial public offering.
Flynt said that his adult empire's cornerstones are quality and diversification and that if the IPO goes through, there will be an expansion in the company's gaming and broadcast divisions, which he said has seen a 35 percent rise in revenue over the past year.
Hustler's founder said that underwriters to the offering may or may not give it the green light. The company, he noted, has a lot of cash on hand.
"We don't have to go public. We'll have to see if it makes sense," he said.
LFP Inc. manages the Hustler brand of adult products and services, including more than 60 websites, 11 retail stores; Hustler magazine; DVD distribution through its Hustler Video, VCA and HIS brands; a Hustler casino in Gardena, Calif., and 11 Larry Flynt’s Hustler clubs, including the one on Dean Martin Drive in Las Vegas.
In 2012, LFP Inc. purchased Boulder, Colo.-based New Frontier Media, a broadcast company, which at the time also was publicly traded. That year, LFP also acquired broadcast outlet Sapphire Media in London.