WELCOME to the Gold Coast strip club where the girls are not allowed to strip.

Players Showgirls, in Surfers Paradise, was stripped of its adult entertainment permit by the Office of Liquor and Gaming after it went into receivership in April with debts of nearly $1 million.

As a result, its dancing girls are no longer allowed to strip completely.

Several customers have contacted the Bulletin to complain they had not got what they paid for after splashing out $50-$60 for five free drinks and a private lap dance expecting the stripper to take all her clothes off.

"They get you in on the drinks card and lap dance but you're not getting what you paid for. It was bit of a rort," a customer said.

"One of the girls even apologised to us. She said they weren't allowed to strip because of the licencing issues".

A liquor licensing spokeswoman confirmed the ban on stripping at Players, but said moves were under way to reinstate its full strip club status.

"Players at Surfers Paradise does not currently hold a permit to conduct adult entertainment, but is licensed to supply liquor," she said.

"OLGR has provided assistance to representatives of the licensee of Players to assist them in ensuring that entertainment conducted at the premises is not of a nature that requires an adult entertainment permit.

"An application for an adult entertainment permit is currently under consideration by OLGR."

The situation has also led to suggestions of false advertising for strip club patrons, with a spokesman from the Office of Fair Trading encouraging those who felt slighted by the restrictions to make a formal complaint.

"Under the Australian Consumer Law, it is illegal for a business to make false or misleading representations about goods or services they supply," he said.

Players Showgirls went into voluntary administration in April with a tax bill of nearly $1m, $500,000 deeper in debt than its owners realised.

The Australian Taxation Office had earlier sought to wind up the business.