Madison, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

05 defines an "adult entertainment establishment" as an adult book or video store or adult motion picture theater, and an "adult entertainment tavern" as a liquor- or beer-licensed establishment emphasizing specified sexual content. No such business may operate in Madison without a license, and a license covers only one fixed location: operators running more than one site need a separate license for each, and licenses cannot be transferred. Applications go to the City Clerk in quadruplicate and are routed to the Police Department, Health Department, Zoning Administrator, and, for taverns, the Alcohol License Review Committee; applicants must be at least 18, disclose corporate ownership above 5%, and show no violation of this ordinance within the preceding five years.

202(3) is a mandatory condition of licensure. The Clerk must act on an adult entertainment establishment application within 21 days, and denials or non-renewals can be appealed to the Common Council within 10 days, with judicial review by certiorari available afterward. Businesses with private viewing booths face detailed physical layout rules: each booth must be open on at least one side to a public, lighted aisle with an unobstructed view of the occupant, walls must run floor-to-ceiling and be light-colored and easily cleanable, only one person may occupy a booth at a time, and lighting must meet minimum foot-candle levels both inside booths and in public aisles.

Operators are liable for their employees' violations, must keep the premises clean under a Health Department-approved sanitizing schedule, and must post signage about sexually transmitted disease information supplied by the Health Department. The Health Department, Building Inspection Division, and Police Department jointly enforce the ordinance, and a revoked license bars that operator, and that location, from adult entertainment use for one full year.