Priority Drawing Notices

Virtual priority drawings will occur if the department receives more applications than there are licenses available in a county. Separate drawings are conducted for each county and license type (i.e. original on-sale, intercounty on-sale, original off-sale, intercounty off-sale, and neighborhood restricted special on-sale). For applicants that applied for a priority license in a county where a drawing is not required, they will receive notification by mail with guidance about filing a formal application.

The Priority Drawing Slip, which is prepared at the time you filed your priority application, will be used in the drawing to establish your priority number.

This year, ABC will utilize a third-party, online randomizer to conduct the drawings. Each applicant that is participating in the drawing has been assigned a six-digit application number which will be used as their drawing number. The list of applicants participating in each drawing and their drawing numbers will be posted on the website in alphabetical order by applicant name. During the drawing, applicants will be selected randomly by the online system and given a priority ranking. The final list of applicants with their priority ranking will establish the order for all priority applicants that participated in that drawing. Priority applicants will be made priority winners in the established randomized order, one applicant for each available license. Priority winners will receive notification by mail with guidance about filing a formal application. A thorough licensing investigation will be conducted to ensure the applicant and the proposed location are suitable to hold an ABC license.

All 2026 priority drawings will be conducted at ABC’s Headquarters in Sacramento and available for public viewing via Zoom. No reservations are required to attend the virtual drawings. Please be advised that in the event of department technical issues that would adversely affect streaming of the virtual priority drawing, the drawing will be postponed. The priority drawing will resume on the next business day at the same time. A new Zoom meeting access link will be posted on the ABC website.

A final list of the priority order for each county will be available in the district office and will be posted on our website on or before November 18, 2026. Applicants will be notified of their position on the list via mail and successful applicants will be notified to file a formal application within 90 days.

Formal applications must be in the exact name(s) as stated on the priority application. Prior to license issuance, a priority applicant must present proof of a two-year right of tenancy for the premises for which the application is filed.