Lottery Process & Licensing Rounds FAQs

The MCA held a license application lottery on March 14th, 2024, which was live-streamed and can be viewed here. The results of the lottery drawings are additionally posted here - PDF - 5.33 MB. 

MCA contacted the selected applicants for the next steps, including collecting any additional documentation pertaining to the entity. The MCA is conducting a review of these materials prior to issuing any conditional licenses. 

No. The MCA is reviewing the selected applicants prior to any award of conditional licenses. 

The MCA is vetting all selected applicants as a prerequisite for obtaining conditional licensure. After the vetting process is completed, the MCA will evaluate the need to hold an additional lottery based on how many prospective businesses are denied as a result of the investigations, if any. 

The MCA and the Office of Social Equity will be facilitating opportunities for selected applicants who may be seeking investors or partners to connect with individuals not selected by the lottery but verified as social equity applicants. The MCA and OSE expect to facilitate these connection opportunities during the conditional licensing phase. 

Also, the MCA will communicate business category opportunities that are not licenses, such as secure transport, security, waste disposal, and others that are registration categories with MCA and not limited in number in statute. The MCA hosted a workforce development conference on March 22nd to encourage these opportunities, and will be conducting similar outreach, programming and training throughout the coming months.

The MCA is not permitted to conduct a second round of licensing prior to May 2024. Additionally, the MCA is required to conduct extensive outreach prior to the application round, and announce any application round 60 calendar days prior to the beginning of the 30 calendar day application period. At this time, the MCA does not have a date for the beginning of the second round, and will evaluate the first round awards prior to the announcement of the next round dates.

In the next round, the MCA may issue a maximum of the following number of licenses: 

For standard licenses: 

• 25 grower licenses
• 25 processor licenses
• 120 dispensary licenses. 

For micro licenses: 

• 70 grower licenses
• 70 processor licenses

10 incubator space licenses
15 on-site consumption licenses 

The MCA will evaluate the number of current licenses eligible in a region or jurisdiction and overall demand before determining the number of licenses available in each jurisdiction or region. The number of awards available will be made with the application announcement. 

The MCA is required under law to hold a Pass / Fail application that evaluates an applicant on minimum qualifications across the following: 

1. A detailed operational plan for the safe, secure,  and effective cultivation, manufacture, or dispensing  of cannabis; 
2. A business plan demonstrating a likelihood of success and sufficient business ability and experience on the part of the applicant, and providing for appropriate employee working conditions; and 
3. A detailed diversity plan.

The MCA will waive the application fee for first round applicants who met minimum qualifications but were not selected in the lottery if they elect to apply for the same license class (Standard or Micro) in the next round. They may elect to apply in a different location or region than the one they applied for in the first licensing round.

If you met the minimum qualifications in the first round of applications, once the next licensing round is announced the MCA will conduct outreach to determine if each nonselected applicant would like their application entered into the second round. At that time, the MCA will additionally notify non-selected applicants if there have been any changes to the application you would need to address prior to resubmission. 

All outreach will be sent to the primary contact on your application. Please continue to monitor that email, and the MCA’s website for further information.  If you need to change the primary contact information at any point, please notify the MCA at [email protected].