A Raleigh sweepstakes parlor that racked up more than 280 police calls in a single year is shutting its doors for good after investigators say they caught it running illegal video poker payouts behind the counter. The Golden 5 Sweepstakes Parlor at 3132 Calvary Drive, tucked between Capital Boulevard and Louisburg Road, is no longer operating and is being evicted from the premises following cooperation with property owners.
Raleigh Police and agents with the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division conducted a three-month investigation of the business, according to CBS17.com. That outlet reports officers and ALE agents seized $180,970 in U.S. currency and three illegally possessed firearms during the operation.
The push to shut down Golden 5 began after authorities tallied more than 280 calls for service to the address between June 2025 and June 2026, according to a police account relayed by 947qdr.com. Those calls spanned disturbances, assaults, drug violations, stabbings, robberies, weapons violations and even assaults on law enforcement officers, the outlet reported.
Three Warrants, Dozens Of Charges
Investigators executed three search warrants on Aug. 28, 2026 — one at Golden 5 itself and two more at addresses tied to the business, per the same account. The searches turned up 29 motherboards pulled from illegal video gambling machines, and undercover work had already documented payouts coming straight from the parlor's video poker machines.
Five people were arrested and charged with a combined six felonies and 20 misdemeanors tied to the investigation, the station notes. The case also unfolded alongside a broader narcotics push: Raleigh Police's North Flex Unit made 17 physical arrests in that parallel effort, generating 47 felony charges and eight misdemeanor charges while recovering six illegally possessed firearms — a separate firearm tally from the three guns seized in the Golden 5 search itself.
Rico Boyce said the investigation demonstrates what can be accomplished when law enforcement agencies work together and remain focused on addressing criminal activity that impacts communities, according to the same police account.
A Statewide Pattern Of Uneven Enforcement
Golden 5's shutdown comes amid a wider, uneven crackdown on illegal electronic gaming across North Carolina. The News & Observer reported visiting a dozen electronic gaming businesses across the Triangle in recent months and finding prohibited machines along with managers ignoring the legally required no-purchase-necessary clause. The paper also found that their continued existence owed less to legal loopholes and more to authorities in Raleigh, Durham and Cary choosing not to prosecute them.
State court data tells a similarly lopsided story. Since 2015, neither Durham nor Wake counties has issued a single charge for electronic sweepstakes or video gaming, per North Carolina Judicial Branch records cited by the paper. Meanwhile, Randolph and Onslow counties alone accounted for 47 of the state's 53 total video-gaming felony charges in 2020, and local officials statewide filed 23 felony charges and 11 misdemeanor charges for video-electronic gaming violations in 2023.
Under North Carolina law, operating the kind of machines investigators say they found at Golden 5 is squarely illegal. State statute G.S. 14-306.4, titled “Electronic machines and devices for sweepstakes prohibited,” makes it unlawful to operate or place into operation an electronic machine or device to conduct or promote a sweepstakes through an entertaining display. A companion provision, G.S. 14-306.3, addresses possession of a terminal simulating a regulated slot machine or video gaming machine, subject to that section’s stated purpose and conditions.
Other recent cases show the problem isn't confined to the Triangle. More than 100 all-cash fish-game businesses closed in Charlotte over the course of a year, according to police cited by the Charlotte Observer. In western North Carolina, four people were arrested after 15 gambling machines were seized, FOX Carolina reported, while a similar raid in Flat Rock reportedly led to four arrests and the seizure of 15 machines and $9,872 in cash, according to WLOS.
