Last independently reviewed: August 15, 2026
The Moonlite BunnyRanch is probably the best-known legal brothel in Nevada. Dennis Hof spent decades turning a relatively obscure rural brothel into a national brand, and HBO’s Cathouse introduced the BunnyRanch and Nevada’s legal prostitution industry to an audience far beyond the state. Hof died in 2018 and Cathouse has been off the air for years, but the BunnyRanch is still operating in Mound House, just east of Carson City.
That long public history can make finding current information harder than it should be. Search for the BunnyRanch and you will find old television clips, former courtesans and visitor information from different periods mixed in with current material. For this guide, we’ve tried to separate the BunnyRanch people remember from television from the brothel that is operating today.
Where Is the BunnyRanch?
The BunnyRanch is physically located in Mound House, Nevada, in Lyon County, immediately east of Carson City. The ranch uses a Carson City address on its website, but the property itself is not in Carson City.
The BunnyRanch publishes its address as 69 Moonlite Road, Carson City, NV 89706 on its directions page. Lyon County property records identify the 20-acre property as 69 Moonlight Road, Mound House and describe the commercial building on the parcel as a motel/bordello. Carson City and Lyon County are separate jurisdictions. Prostitution is prohibited in Carson City, while Lyon County licenses brothels in Mound House.
For a visitor, the simpler explanation is that the BunnyRanch is a short drive east of Carson City and roughly 30 road miles from Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The ranch currently advertises complimentary car service from the Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe areas, available 24 hours a day. Anyone planning to use the service should arrange the details directly with the BunnyRanch.
Is the BunnyRanch Open?
Yes. The Moonlite BunnyRanch was operating when we reviewed it on August 15, 2026. Its current website advertises 24-hour operation, and visitors can make an appointment with a particular courtesan or stop by without one.
A traditional lineup is also optional, meaning a visitor can enter the bar or parlor without immediately choosing a courtesan. The ranch does a better job than many brothels of showing current availability through its Today’s Lineup page, which lists the women it identifies as currently available. If you are traveling specifically to see one person, however, it still makes sense to contact her or the ranch before making the trip. Lineups can change quickly as courtesans arrive, leave or adjust their schedules.
Customers must be at least 18 years old for sexual services and 21 to drink alcohol. The BunnyRanch currently advertises a full-service bar. These customer age requirements are separate from Lyon County’s licensing rules for the sex workers themselves.
How Much Does the BunnyRanch Cost?
The BunnyRanch says there are no set prices. Its FAQ describes each courtesan as an independent contractor who establishes her own services and pricing. Time, the type of experience, the individual courtesan and whether more than one woman is involved can all affect the final negotiation.
Online claims that “the BunnyRanch costs” a particular amount should therefore be treated cautiously. Someone describing what he paid during one visit is describing one negotiation, not a house-wide price list. A price quoted in an old forum post or review may tell you very little about what a different courtesan will negotiate today.
The same goes for services. The BunnyRanch advertises a broad sex menu, including girlfriend-style experiences, erotic massage, BDSM, couples experiences and multi-woman parties. That does not mean every courtesan personally offers everything advertised on the site. Customers looking for something specific should ask rather than assume.
Outdates and Overnight Experiences
The BunnyRanch website uses both Outdates and Overnights as service categories, and its sex menu describes arrangements in which a courtesan can accompany a customer on a date for an evening or overnight.
Outdates are one of the areas where Nevada brothel rules are easy to oversimplify. Northern Nevada counties do not all handle off-premises arrangements the same way. We discuss that distinction in our Brothels Near Reno guide. Anyone interested in a BunnyRanch outdate should inquire with the BunnyRanch directly for current, specific and accurate information about what can be arranged.
VIP Rooms and Overnight Visits
The BunnyRanch advertises private VIP suites, and its FAQ says customers can spend the night in VIP suites with a courtesan. Visitors interested in staying overnight should ask the BunnyRanch what options are currently available.
The ranch also advertises Jacuzzi rooms and hot tubs. Visitors interested in a particular suite or overnight arrangement should ask what is available when they book.
Who Works at the BunnyRanch?
The BunnyRanch roster changes constantly. The ranch maintains its Today’s Lineup for current availability along with individual courtesan profiles. Women regularly circulate into and out of the house, and that kind of rotation is not new. Rebecca Mead was already writing about women flying in for shorter stays when she profiled Hof and the BunnyRanch for The New Yorker in 2001.
In our Nevada Brothel Status Report 2026, Brothel Nevada was able to substantiate 30 BunnyRanch house-level sex-worker affiliations from the public information available during our January through August research. That number is a documented snapshot, not an estimate of everybody who worked at the BunnyRanch during the year. The actual number of women circulating through the property over a full year is likely substantially higher.
Health and Regulation
The BunnyRanch operates under Lyon County’s brothel regulations as well as Nevada health rules. Lyon County’s brothel code requires sex workers at licensed brothels to register with the sheriff and obtain a work card. The county’s rules include fingerprinting and a background check. Workers are also subject to recurring medical testing, including weekly testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia, monthly HIV and syphilis testing and annual HSV-II screening.
Nevada health regulations separately require latex or polyurethane prophylactics for specified sexual contact in licensed brothels. At the BunnyRanch, regulation includes county licensing, worker registration, recurring medical testing and state safe-sex requirements.
How Dennis Hof Turned the BunnyRanch Into a National Brand
The BunnyRanch traces its history to 1955, long before Dennis Hof became associated with it. Hof purchased the property in 1992. Over the following years, he brought a level of publicity and self-promotion that was unusual for an industry that had traditionally operated much more quietly in rural Nevada.
An early major national profile came in 2001, when Rebecca Mead wrote about Hof for The New Yorker in an article titled American Pimp. Mead described Hof applying modern marketing and publicity to prostitution and openly discussing plans for a larger BunnyRanch empire. One detail is especially interesting in hindsight: the article also describes television producers visiting the property and discussing the possibility of a cable series set in a brothel.
HBO’s first Cathouse documentary followed in 2002. Cathouse: The Series began in 2005, followed by additional episodes and specials. The programs gave viewers an unusually close look at a legal Nevada brothel and made Hof, several BunnyRanch courtesans and the ranch itself recognizable far beyond Nevada.
Hof expanded his brothel holdings along the way. By 2018 he owned all four licensed brothels operating in Lyon County and had also owned Alien Cathouse in Amargosa Valley and Love Ranch South in Crystal. Hof sold Alien Cathouse earlier in 2018, leaving Love Ranch South as his remaining Nye County brothel before his death. The Nevada Independent documented Hof’s multi-county brothel holdings that year.
Even with the additional properties, BunnyRanch remained the center of the brand. Hof’s name, Cathouse and the BunnyRanch became so closely associated that separating the history of one from the others is difficult.
Dennis Hof’s Death and the 2018 Brothel Vote
Hof died on October 16, 2018, at age 72. He was also the Republican candidate for a seat in the Nevada Assembly at the time. His name remained on the ballot, and he won the election after his death. Contemporary reporting documented his death and the immediate continuation of the Lyon County brothels.
Hof’s four Lyon County brothels remained open. Lyon County officials said longtime madam Suzette Cole, who had been added to the business and liquor licenses years earlier, was running the four properties after his death.
His death came only weeks before Lyon County voters considered an advisory question asking whether county commissioners should rescind the county’s brothel ordinance. Because of the way the question was written, a No vote meant keeping the ordinance.
The result was decisive. On November 6, 2018, 16,643 voters, or 80.5 percent, voted against rescinding the brothel ordinance, while 4,031 voted in favor. The ordinance remained in place. The official Nevada election results record the county vote.
The vote also illustrates how Nevada’s brothel system actually works. Brothels are not simply legal statewide. Local governments decide whether licensed brothels can operate within their jurisdictions, and Lyon County voters were given a direct opportunity to weigh in on the system operating there.
Secrets of the Bunny Ranch
The public image created during the Hof and Cathouse years was revisited much more critically in 2025, when A&E aired the six-part documentary series Secrets of the Bunny Ranch. The series included former workers who made serious allegations involving bullying, humiliation, manipulation and sexual assault.
Some of the sexual-assault allegations against Hof predated his death by years and had been made publicly or reported to authorities while he was alive. Hof denied the allegations. In at least one case, prosecutors declined to bring charges because the statute of limitations that applied to the alleged conduct had expired. The Nevada Independent reported on those allegations and the law-enforcement record in 2018. The Nevada Department of Public Safety also opened a sexual-assault investigation into Hof in September 2018, roughly six weeks before his death.
Brothel Nevada has separately published commentary on Secrets of the Bunny Ranch, including a personal perspective on the documentary and some of the context it left out.
Dennis Hof was never convicted of a crime.
The BunnyRanch Today
Nearly eight years after Hof’s death, the Moonlite BunnyRanch remains open in Mound House and continues to operate as one of Nevada’s best-known legal brothels.
For current courtesan availability, transportation, suites, outdates or other details that can change quickly, the BunnyRanch’s Today’s Lineup and direct contact with the ranch are the best places to check before making the trip.
Photo Credits
Moonlite BunnyRanch exterior, 2006. Photo: Joseph Conrad / Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons file — CC BY-SA 2.0
Dennis Hof at the 2006 AVN Awards. Photo: jerone2 / Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons file — CC BY-SA 2.0
BunnyRanch rabbit sign, 2009. Photo: Drew Jacksich / Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons file — CC BY-SA 2.0
Moonlite BunnyRanch, Mound House, Nevada, 2022. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith. Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.