Guidance for Microbusiness Applicants

Application Considerations

  • To determine if the applicant has a disqualifying felony offense, fingerprints are required for microbusiness applicants for owners with 10% or more voting or financial interest. The Department will provide additional guidance during the application window as to when and how to submit fingerprints.
  • Applicants will need to provide the proposed facility address and proposed blueprints with their application. Refer to 19 CSR 100-1.060(3) for additional information required for facility applicants.
  • All microbusiness licensees must receive operational approval to operate within two (2) years of issuance.
  • Entity names should reflect the business structure type.
    • If an applicant chooses “sole proprietor”, the business name must be the name of the eligible owner. 
    • If an applicant chooses “LLC”, they can choose their entity name.
      • Applicants are encouraged to check the Missouri Secretary of State’s website to verify the availability of an entity name prior to submitting.
    • If a license is issued to an entity whose name is unavailable or does not match the business structure type, a business change request will be required to update this information prior to the licensee becoming operational.

Microbusiness Applicants Generally

  • Majority owners must meet at least one eligibility criteria from Article XIV, Section 2.
  • An owner of a microbusiness facility may not also be an owner of another licensed marijuana facility or medical facility.
  • An entity/individual may only apply for and obtain one microbusiness license.
  • A marijuana facility shall not have as an owner any individual with a disqualifying felony offense.
  • Applicants must choose the congressional district where their microbusiness facility will be located at the time of application. Applicants are not required to reside in the same congressional district as the proposed facility address.
  • Applicants may not enter into agreements that remove power or diminish the operational control of eligible owners, either immediately or in the future, until after the Division completes its eligibility verification process and the licensee completes all mandatory post-award training.
    • These include agreements that effectuate future automatic transfer of ownership.
    • Microbusinesses must remain majority-owned and operated by eligible individuals.
  • Applicants should contact the local governing body where the proposed facility is located to request information about zoning rules for marijuana facilities for that jurisdiction.

View additional ownership information.

Lottery

By law, microbusiness applications are selected via random lottery drawing. To ensure the integrity of the random drawing, the Missouri Lottery will conduct the drawing without reference to the identities of the applicants. 

General Information

  • An individual or entity may only be listed on one application for each lottery round, regardless of the amount of ownership interests.  If an individual or entity appears on multiple applications, all applications in which the individual or entity appears will be in violation of the rule and will be denied.  
  • Applications not chosen by lottery may choose to submit a new application during the next application submission time period.

Lottery Process

  1. All timely applications submitted with an application fee will be entered into the lottery drawing. Untimely applications or applications without an application fee will be denied.
  2. After the application time period closes, applicants will be sorted by congressional districts and license type (wholesale or dispensary), and assigned a sequential applicant identifier within those groups. The designated contact provided in the application will receive an email containing the applicant identifier prior to the drawing.
  3. All applicants entered into the drawing will be listed in order drawn within their congressional district.
  4. Prior to awarding licenses, the Department will review the applications in the order drawn. In the case that an application is denied or an applicant does not accept an awarded license, the next eligible applicant in that congressional district will be awarded the license.
  5. Random drawing results will be posted to the Department’s website as soon as they are available.
  6. Once the subsequent review period is complete, winners of licenses will be notified by email using the designated contact provided in the application.

Fees and Refunds

Additional fee and refund information can be found here.

Per 19 CSR 100-1-060(2), a refund will be issued to any applicant not chosen by the lottery that meets the criteria for a microbusiness license and has no pending or future legal actions related to the denial of the application. Requests for a refund will be accepted beginning thirty-one (31) days after the date of the denial, but no later than six (6) months after the date of the denial.

Application Submissions

Applications will only be accepted through the on-line registry portal.