diff --git a/src/pretix/base/services/waitinglist.py b/src/pretix/base/services/waitinglist.py
index 4e03fdd17a..b71c711609 100644
--- a/src/pretix/base/services/waitinglist.py
+++ b/src/pretix/base/services/waitinglist.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def assign_automatically(event_id: int, user_id: int=None, subevent_id: int=None
                 continue
 
             ev = (wle.subevent or event)
-            if not ev.presale_is_running:
+            if not ev.presale_is_running or (wle.subevent and not wle.subevent.active):
                 continue
 
             quotas = (wle.variation.quotas.filter(subevent=wle.subevent)
@@ -68,7 +68,9 @@ def assign_automatically(event_id: int, user_id: int=None, subevent_id: int=None
 
 @receiver(signal=periodic_task)
 def process_waitinglist(sender, **kwargs):
-    qs = Event.objects.prefetch_related('_settings_objects', 'organizer___settings_objects').select_related('organizer')
+    qs = Event.objects.filter(
+        live=True
+    ).prefetch_related('_settings_objects', 'organizer___settings_objects').select_related('organizer')
     for e in qs:
         if e.settings.waiting_list_enabled and e.settings.waiting_list_auto and e.presale_is_running:
             assign_automatically.apply_async(args=(e.pk,))