Dennis Hof, Nevada brothel owner, eyes 4 Canadian cities

Dennis Hof, the owner of a chain of brothels in the U.S., wants to expand to four Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Hofsays hestarted his brothel career as a satisfied customer and became an owner when he opened his first operation in 1992.He now owns seven, including theMoonliteBunny Ranch, which was featured in the HBO seriesCathouse.

Hof's interest inbringing brothels to Canada follows the decision in December by the Supreme Court of Canada to strikedown three provisions that targetprostitution.

I love being able to service people and make people happy.Jodi, a sex worker at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch

The top court ruled the provisions are unconstitutional because they actively endanger people who work in the trade.

The provisions will stay in the Criminal Code for one year while the government decides what to do.

Hofsays a city such as Halifax would be better off with brothels.

"I've not been thereI just know that you have a serious problem there," he said in an interview with CBCMainstreeton Tuesday. "When you Google 'trafficking' in Halifax, you come up with nearly a quarter-million items. You could read for two months."

He also cited Operation Northern Spotlight, a cross-Canada investigation involvingmore than 30 police services. Police interviewed women as young as 15working in the sex industry in the Halifax area.

"You've got the problemand I've got the answer to fix all that,"Hofsaid.

"The demand is thereand right now it's in the hands of people that you don't want it to be. None of them are paying taxes. They're not having sexual disease tests."

• Listen: Dennis Hofexplains his plans
• Listen: Sociologist Barb Brents talks about the legalized sex trade

The women who work in his brothels are tested weekly, he said.

"In 33 years of mandatory testing, we've never had a case of HIV in any Nevada brothel. So if you put in these regulationsand take the business out of the hands of criminals and put it in the hands of the professionals, you're not going to have any 13-year-old girls working there," he said.

Happy workers

Jodi is one ofHof'semployees at theMoonliteBunny Ranch.

"I love being able to service people and make people happy. I have a lot of customers come in that feel very lowly of themselves and I'm there to support them and make them feel special. That's my job," she says.

Hofsays women who work 10 days a month at his brothels typically make a six-figure income. His top earner last year AirforceAmy made $500,000.

BarbBrents,a professor of sociology at the University of Nevada inLasVegas, iscoauthor ofThe State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland.

"There are positive and negative sides to legalized brothels," she said.Her research shows brothels are a much safer environment for sex workerscompared to working onthe streets. Drawbacks include exploitativemanagers.

Brents says working inbrothels wouldlikely appeal to some of Halifax's university students who need money for school and would consider selling sex, but not on the streets.

Moral adjustment to selling sex

If Canada's laws eventually allowHofto open a brothel in Halifax,Brentshas a few recommendations.

"You're going to have to confront the idea that women and men have the right to sell sex and deal with their bodies in the way that they want to. And you know, not a lot of people think that's good or healthy," she said. "So you're going to have to get used to it on a moral level."

She also recommends local policy makers, citizens and sex workers sit down together to come up with rules and regulations around brothels that would work best.