After A Clerical Error, Illinois Requires Repeat Cannabis Lottery

A “clerical oversight” wrongfully excluded applicants from a three-part lottery process in Illinois that awarded 185 retail licenses including 110 social equity licenses. Illinois will conduct a corrective lottery to award additional adult-use cannabis retail licenses.

“Any such licenses [from a corrective lottery] will be in addition to any licenses awarded based on the original lotteries,” the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation stated in a press release. “Thus, unless a court rules otherwise, the department does not intend to alter or change the results of the original lotteries when it conducts the corrective lotteries, but instead intends to award additional licenses where necessary to redress errors that resulted in the improper exclusion of applicant entries in the three original lotteries.”

IDFPR’s corrective lottery is focused on amending the wrongful exclusion of six applicant groups. To obtain multiple applications in the same lottery, applicants were permitted to either submit a single application but pay multiple application fees to obtain multiple application entries or to submit separate applications. When IDFPR posted the list of participants for the Qualifying Applicant Lottery some participants erroneously received an extra entry, while some others did not receive an entry they paid for. Applicants who had an entry that was excluded have been notified by the IDFPR.

“The department is committed to ensuring a fair process by which all applicants that were properly qualified to participate in a lottery but were erroneously excluded from that lottery receive a fair opportunity to obtain a conditional license,” the IDFPR release stated. “Accordingly, the department intends to conduct supplemental corrective lotteries that will address application entries that were erroneously excluded from a lottery.” 

Unless Cook County Circuit Judge Moshe Jacobius lifts a standing court order blocking the rollout, the IDFPR cannot issue the 185 licenses. There’s a possibility the state will have to redo its entire lottery process.