Delaware lottery for adult-use marijuana retailer licenses set for Dec. 19
- Delaware is scheduled to hold a lottery for 15 adult-use marijuana retail business licenses on December 19, with 519 applicants competing for Open Retailer permits.
- The lottery for Open Retailer permits on December 19 will coincide with the deadline for previous license winners to submit supplemental applications.
- Winners of Open Retailer licenses will undergo a more in-depth review process, including a financial background check to ensure financial responsibility.
- In the first lottery held on October 24, Delaware's Office of the Marijuana Commissioner awarded a total of 99 adult-use business licenses, with additional licenses granted for Social Equity Micro Cultivation, Micro Manufacturer, and Testing Labs.
Delaware’s lottery for the 15 adult-use marijuana retail business licenses the state will award is scheduled for Dec. 19.
The lottery for Open Retailer permits will feature the state’s largest field of applicants, a total of 519.
The lottery – which will begin around 1-2 p.m. ET – is scheduled for the same day that previous adult-use license award winners are required to turn in their supplemental applications, Delaware Public Media reported.
The process for Open Retailer license winners will be “more in depth – their plans have to be more in depth,” Delaware Public Media reported Marijuana Commissioner Rob Coupe as saying during a Marijuana Control Act Oversight Committee meeting.
“They’ll go through a financial background.”
“We have a responsibility to see where their funds are coming from to make sure that everything’s on the up and up and make sure that there’s no risk there to the state if they have a history of financial irresponsibility.”
The state’s Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OMC) awarded 99 adult-use business licenses in its first lottery, held Oct. 24:
Three licenses apiece previously were awarded in Sussex County for Social Equity Micro Cultivation and Micro Manufacturer because the number of applications equaled the number of available permits.
Lotteries were not held for testing labs because the number of applicants did not exceed the total licenses available.
So, Kent and New Castle each had one Open Testing Lab licensee, and New Castle and Sussex each had one Social Equity Testing Lab licensee.
Interest was high for the adult-use business licenses being awarded in Delaware, with more than 1,260 applications submitted.