SoDo, Ballard are Seattle’s top winners in state’s pot license lottery

The state of Washington has now ranked 1,174 applicants who hope to get a retail license to sell marijuana.

Lotteries were held in jurisdictions, such as Seattle, where there were more applicants than licenses available.

“Today, we posted those results online so that everybody who had applied for a retail license, all the qualified applicants, could see where they rank in the lottery,” said State Liquor Control Board spokesman Mikhael Carpenter.

Those who rank high enough will continue with the licensing. Seattle was awarded 21 stores, but those applicants now must go through the next step, which includes background checks and financial investigations. There are a handful of locations in Seattle’s SoDo and Ballard neighborhoods. Bellevue was reportedly awarded four locations.

“If somebody falls off the list, they don’t pass their background check, their financial investigation doesn’t pan out, then we’ll go ahead and move to the next person on the list,” explained Carpenter.

More than 2,000 people initially applied for licenses the state planned to issue under the recreational pot law adopted by voters in 2012. The board began pre-screening the applicants in February, and of that number 1,174 applicants were included in the lottery.