Maryland resident Jusmin Patel, operator of Jananii LLC, was fortunate to win the state’s recreational marijuana cannabis license lottery twice, setting the stage for her company to potentially open both a dispensary and micro-cultivator business in what’s expected to be a lucrative new market.
But despite the lottery being a game of chance, Jananii LLC’s wins weren’t totally by luck.
Patel’s company submitted more than 2,300 license applications in the state’s lottery process, paying thousands of dollars in fees for better odds of winning.
The bet paid off. And Jananii LLC wasn’t the only company to submit a significant number of lottery applications. Seven companies submitted more than 1,000 applications each in various lottery categories, and more than half won at least once, according to a Hartford Business Journal analysis of unofficial lottery application data obtained from Connecticut’s online licensing database.
Seventy companies each submitted at least 100 different lottery applications.
The flood of applications — over 37,000 total for just 56 licenses — has angered some social equity advocates who say Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis law isn’t living up to its promise of benefiting poorer communities hit hardest by the nation’s decades-long war on drugs.
Source: Hartford Business Journal analysis of unofficial lottery application data obtained from Connecticut’s online licensing…
