25 sole proprietors and companies of the cannabis lottery will proceed with applications for licenced cannabis stores, which the province aims to have open by April 1
As set out in Ontario Regulation 468/18, the Government of Ontario gave the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) the mandate to hold a cannabis lottery to determine who may apply for Retail Operator Licences. The cannabis lottery selection was completed on January 11, 2019.
Ontario has announced the results of its much-anticipated cannabis retail lottery, naming 25 companies that are now eligible to begin applying for a licence to operate a brick-and-mortar pot shop in the province. However, there were no well-known businesses in the list.
Among the companies randomly selected by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) were Pure Alpha Holdings, Tripsetter Inc., CGS Foods Inc., and The Niagara Herbalist.
The lottery winners will have until Jan. 18 to submit a Retail Operator Licence Application with extensive detail on the timeline for getting a cannabis store up and running. They would then be subject to a background check, which will include scrutiny of tax records and financial statements. Additionally, the 25 winners will have to submit a $50,000 letter of credit and a non-refundable $6,000 fee payment to the AGCO.
If applicants don’t pass the AGCO background check, after they apply for the Retail Operator Licence, the AGCO will turn to a waitlist of applicants.
The AGCO received 17,000 applications. Nearly 64% of the license came from sole proprietorships, and registered companies constituted only 33%. Pure Alpha Holdings, Tripsetter, CGS Foods, and the Niagara Herbalist were some of the corporations that were selected. The winners of the lottery will now have to pay $6,000 for the retail operator license and also submit a $50,000 letter of credit that is valid until December 13, 2019, within five days of the announcement of lottery results.
The licences are being divided regionally, with five going to the east of the province, seven in the west, two in the north, six in the Greater Toronto Area and five in Toronto itself.
Lottery Winners:
East Region:
Daniel Telio 428720
Brandon long 427764
Patterson and Lavoie 413159
PURE ALPHA HOLDINGS 414955
Karan Someshwar 419068
GTA
Guruveer Singh Sangha 421776
David Nguyen 423565
Tripsetter Inc. 427833
Alexander Altman 414725
CGS FOODS INC 407223
Gary Hatt 416473
Toronto
Heather Conlon 398788
SEYEDARASH SEYEDAMERI 425239
Colin Campbell 399836
Dana Michele Kendal 408389
Hunny Gawri 423754
West Region
Steven Fry 408185
Lisa A Bigioni 412975
Ranjit basra 428461
2674253 Ontario Inc. 405886
Santino J Coppolino 411369
Christopher Comrie 425836
The Niagara Herbalist 399235
