Moore County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 9, Article III of the Moore County Code regulates massage therapy countywide under a privilege license system, and two sections police the sexual-conduct line the county will not let a licensed practice cross. Section 9-43 makes it unlawful for a massagist licensed under Section 9-46 to massage or offer to massage the private parts of another person on the licensed premises, and separately bars a licensed massage therapy establishment under Section 9-47 from allowing, permitting or condoning that same conduct. Section 9-44 goes further, barring any massage administered in a manner reasonably calculated to sexually stimulate or arouse the person being massaged, whether by an individual therapist or condoned by the establishment; the ordinance treats intentional touching of private parts as prima facie evidence of that intent.

Section 9-42 defines private parts as the penis, scrotum, mons veneris, vulva, or vaginal area. 00 or 30 days in jail, or both, with each separate violation counted as a separate offense. Because Article III governs massage therapy specifically, the county has no other sexually oriented business permitting scheme in this code; the Unified Development Ordinance, adopted separately by reference under Section 1-14, is where any zoning-based spacing or use-district rule for adult businesses would sit.