Processing of 15,000 refunds leaves Oilers 50/50 date uncertain
About 15,000 of the 295,667 purchases made during last Friday’s record-setting Oilers 50/50 raffle will need to be refunded to residents before the draw can take place.
Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation executive director Natalie Minckler couldn’t confirm a date for the draw, but said it will take place as soon as five per cent of the total transactions are voided and the participants are refunded.
“The goal date is after the refunds are processed and people see the charges reversed on their credit card. We have to complete that process, otherwise it leaves customers frustrated,” Minckler said in an interview with Postmedia Friday afternoon. “We remain confident and AGLC remains confident that the integrity of the raffle is intact, so we have no issues there.”
The Aug. 7 pot for the Oilers’ final game of the season against the Chicago Blackhawks soared to more than $15 million, but was plagued by technical glitches following a huge demand. Unprecedented pressure on the servers caused slow loading times and duplication of some orders with people facing unexpected multiple charges. The new pot total has yet to be determined, but will be lower than initially made public after some of the charges are withdrawn.
Between Monday and Thursday at noon, raffle participants had the option to email the foundation and request a refund for some or all of their transactions or to receive their ticket confirmation. This was to ensure the integrity of the draw and that all participants were entered willingly with the appropriate number of tickets, Minckler said.
Currently, the technology service provider Ascend Fundraising Solutions is working round the clock to conduct the refund process. Company CEO Daniel Lewis said the server complications were impacted by the increased capacity for this draw. After the Aug. 5 draw reached capacity, the maximum number of tickets was increased by 2.5 times for the Aug. 7 draw.
“Yes, the increased capacity created certain issues on our side, which we believe is responsible for this particular problem, which we have now since completely resolved,” Lewis said. “This is an important matter we’re going to resolve. We’re going to do the right thing. We’ll sacrifice expediency for integrity.”
In responding to the criticism the raffle faced last week, Minckler said her message to participants is the organizers have been working to fix the situation and a ticket number won’t be drawn until they are certain all the necessary refunds have been made.
“We have been working tirelessly to communicate with customers to make sure that we hear back from them and that we do the right thing,” she said. “We’re not going to make the draw until refunds are done, till we have it right. We appreciate the response we’ve received from hockey fans all over the province of Alberta; someone is going to walk away a multi-million-dollar winner.”
The Aug. 5 jackpot, which has been claimed by a winner who has not been named, went for $2.7 million, with the other half going to local charities.
Funds from the raffles go toward programs supporting vulnerable Edmontonians, as well as youth hockey, with a goal to increase participation of under-represented groups. Since its inception in 2001, the foundation has contributed in excess of $40 million to more than 2,900 charities, community groups and minor hockey programs.