State regulators plan to issue 21 licenses for retail cannabis stores in Seattle in a lottery with over 400 ticket holders. But a new report I published earlier this week reveals that the majority of Seattle applicants won't make the lottery because their location is within 1,000 feet of a school, park, or other prohibited feature.

The report, titled Pot Lottery Numbers: Retail Cannabis License Odds in Seattle and Washington State, calculates the probability of winning the retail cannabis lottery in each of the 122 designated licensing areas.

The worst odds are in Issaquah, Washington, where 21 applicants are vying for a single retail license—4.76% chance or 1:20 odds. The best odds are in Oak Harbor, Quincy, and the counties of Chelan, Cowlitz, Lewis and Skagit, where 12 total applicants are guaranteed licenses if they can pass the liquor board’s qualification process.

The majority of Seattle pot shop applicants fail zoning tests
  • CannaZoning.com

The report lists every Seattle cannabis retail applicant based on whether or not they will qualify for the lottery, and lists 55 properties with multiple applications on them. One property—1021 6th Ave S—has a whopping 14 retail applications on it. For a landlord, 14 applications increases the probability of that property winning the Seattle pot lottery from 12% to 85%.

Will the state allow multiple applicants at the same location to win the pot lottery? "If more than one applicant has listed the same address and both happen to win the lottery, the LCB will address at that time," says liquor board spokesman Brian Smith.

Smith tells me that pot lottery hopefuls have another week to finalize their plans and property. Until then, retail applicants can move their pot shop plans anywhere in the state—so long as the location complies with zoning requirements.