After a nearly 2-year-long process, Nevada regulators issued six prospective licenses via lottery to cannabis consumption lounge applicants.
The six prospective licenses issued Thursday by the state’s Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) went to social equity applicants who met strict criteria, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
However, a few steps remain before those prospective licensees can open their consumption lounges, and the path to this point was controversial.
At least one of the winners is located in Las Vegas.
State confidentiality laws obscure details for the other five, the Sun noted.
The CCB’s issuance of the six prospective permits is the latest step in a drawn-out ordeal that began in 2022.
In November of that year, the CCB drew 10 winners from a pool of social-equity applicants.
However, earlier this year, regulators conducted an audit that determined six of the 10 were in fact ineligible for a social-equity permit.
That prompted a reevaluation of all 30 applications for a license in 2022.
Eight applicants were found to be eligible.
All eight entered Thursday’s lottery.
According to the Sun, prospective licenses prompt a “suitability investigation” from state regulators, who next decide whether to issue a conditional license.
Only then can an applicant “work toward” the final permit that will allow them to open a cannabis consumption lounge.
The first consumption lounge in Nevada opened earlier this year in Las Vegas.
