Western States 2027 Lottery: Dates, Tickets and How the December 5 Draw Works

Applications for the 2027 Western States 100 lottery are open until Saturday, November 21, 2026, online at portal.wser.org. The draw is on Saturday, December 5, from 8 to 11 a.m. Pacific, in the Placer High School auditorium in Auburn, California, and names go up on lottery.wser.org as they're drawn. The race itself is on June 26, 2027.

We'll update this post as the applications close and again on draw day.

Who can enter the Western States lottery?

You need a finish at one of the races on the official qualifying list, run between November 3, 2025 and November 8, 2026, inside that race's qualifying time. That window closed on Sunday. Western States is strict about the list: an event that isn't on it can't be used as a qualifier. Our qualifying races page has all 266 of them with their standards.

How do Western States lottery tickets work?

Every applicant gets 2^(n-1) tickets, where n is the number of years they've applied without getting in. So it's one ticket the first year, two the second, four the third, and it doubles from there. Since the 2020 lottery the years don't have to be in a row, but you have to qualify and apply again every year to keep your tickets.

As of early Monday, November 9, the race's live count had 9,815 applicants holding 106,813 tickets. 3,273 of them are first-timers with a single ticket. At the other end, one applicant has 1,024 tickets, which means an 11th year in the hat. Last year 11,328 people applied.

How many places are there?

The Forest Service permit caps the field at 369 runners. Not all of those come from the lottery: last year 112 places went to automatic entrants, such as the Golden Ticket races, which left 257 for the draw. Western States hasn't published the 2027 split yet. It also draws 75 more names for an ordered wait list, and if you're picked for the wait list and turn it down, you keep your tickets.

If your name comes out, entry is $575 plus the online fee, and you have ten days to register. Miss that and you lose the place and every ticket you've built up.