Escambia Santa Rosa get more liquor licenses, lottery in Oct.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s (DBPR) Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco opened the entry period for the 2019 Quota Beverage License Drawing. The Division will accept quota license drawing entries for 45 days, ending at 5 p.m. on October 2, 2019.

Both Escambia and Santa Rosa counties will have one new license available.

Quota beverage licenses authorize the holder of the license to sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits, either for package sales only or for consumption on the licensed premises, depending on the license series elected. The Florida Beverage Law limits the total number of quota alcoholic beverage licenses by county population estimates, authorizing the Division to issue no more than one license for every 7,500 residents within a county. Each year, the Division analyzes population data in Florida’s 67 counties, and based on the licenses available, opens the drawing process for a 45-day period beginning the third Monday in August.

The 2019 drawing entry period will include 51 new quota beverage licenses available for issuance in 27 counties, including: Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Dade, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia.

Once the entry period closes on October 2, the Division will process entries and announce the winners during a public drawing at a later date. Entrants selected from the drawing will be awarded the priority right to apply and qualify to hold one of the available licenses in the county from which their entry was selected. 

During the 2018 entry period, for which rights to apply for available licenses were recently awarded following the public drawing, the Division received more than 28,000 entries for 51 licenses in 27 counties. 

Entrants can apply by using DBPR’s online portal to pay by credit card. To enter and pay by check or money order, applications and payment can be mailed or hand delivered. For more information about the Quota Beverage License Drawing entry process, interested entrants are encouraged to contact a local Division of Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco District Office or visit our website by clicking HERE.