Special Edition: Lottery Results

North Star Cannabis Consulting Newsletter

Author

Jen Reise
June 09, 2025

In partnership with

Happy Monday!

Minnesota’s long-awaited lottery for the capped license types was completed without problems last Thursday, and congratulations to the 249 winners! They can now move forward with background checks, securing compliant property, and preparing final plans of record, joining the 1,200 micros already working on those steps.

If you are one of those aspiring licensees, I hope you’ll consider joining the North Star Accelerator Program. I’ve designed it so you get low-cost, weekly access to me, recommendations and referrals to preferred providers, and community and accountability to help us move forward, together.

If you are NOT one of those aspiring licensees, good news - I know this newsletter has been super focused on the lottery and in the weeds on OCM policy, and over the coming weeks I’ll be returning to a more high-level treatment here - including celebrating Minnesota’s cannabis businesses as they open!

On Thursday, in the next regular newsletter, I’ll be breaking down the national news with regard to the hemp-derived industry, which is facing a new Congressional threat.

Thanks for reading!

Jen Randolph Reise (photo by Angela Knox)

MINNESOTA CANNABIS NEWS

License lottery results are in!

The long-awaited lottery for capped licenses was held by MN-OCM on June 5th. 249 lucky applicants are moving forward. The winners are listed by application number here.

Jen’s take: OCM did a nice job of organizing a orderly and easy-to-understand lottery. I especially appreciated them both doing it live and getting a website with winning numbers up on the same day. It’s hard to see some very good applicants be passed over - but that is, of course, what going to a lottery means: that there are more applicants than spots, and we decided to let chance determine who gets to move forward. It’s a painful process, and best wishes to everyone who worked so hard to get to this point.

My picture from watching at MAC Social Club

FYI, Winners: OCM reached out to tell me that they sent an email this morning to everyone entered in the lottery, mistakenly including the winners, saying that they had not won. Oops! So - if your number was picked on Thursday, do not stress about the contradictory form email you got from OCM this morning.

Special Session Starts Today - Stop the Cannabis Tax Hike

The Governor has called a special legislative session for today that will include a vote to implement a 50% tax hike on hemp and cannabis products, from 10% to 15%. Get a list of who to call and talking points from Blunt Strategies here, and get involved.

Media Roundup

There was plenty of press coverage about Minnesota’s lottery - check out my post on LinkedIn for all the links.

I'll be holding an "Ask Me Anything" on LinkedIn, live, on Friday, June 13 at 9 AM (Central) all about the fascinating Minnesota market for media and national industry folks.

Accelerator Starts Tomorrow!

Launch Your Minnesota Cannabis Business — Fast, Smart, and Compliant

We’ll be kicking off the Accelerator with the first live meeting with me at noon tomorrow; join now to be a part of it! There are still 13 spots left at the super-favorable Founding Member pricing, so snag one now if you are joining us.

Not sure? You can absolutely join later - it will just cost you more. Find out more about the North Star Accelerator here.

Mochi the Adventure Kitten watching birds during a backyard adventure 😻

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