Swollen 50-50 prize ticket demand overwhelms Esks
So many 50-50 tickets were sold at Thursday night’s Eskimos game that it was impossible to print them all in time to make the record $348,534 draw.
“You’re going to have to wait a little longer,” the Commonwealth Stadium announcer told the crowd, which grumbled at the news.
The winning ticket number will instead be posted on the Eskimos website. The winner will have until 4 p.m. Monday to claim the money.
“It’s the most insane I’ve ever seen it,” said 50-50 ticket seller Jordan Olson, who had filled his dispenser seven times; usually, he does it only once a night.
Ticket buyers lined up mere minutes after the gates opened. At least 70 people stood in one line. Patrick Miller of Sherwood Park said he had been waiting for about an hour — since the game began — to get a ticket.
Many in the crowd, estimated at 40,066 people, said they were at the game because of the draw.
“This is the incentive tonight; it’s really good,” Katrina Stasyk said before she handed over her bills to a ticket seller.
She was with two friends, Brianna Billey and Angelica Panasuik, who are all big football fans.
Travis Currah, who drove up from Red Deer for the 5050, said he was optimistic he’d win the money.
“I have this weird belief that if I somehow get to the front of the line, it’s meant to be.”
At the previous Esks home game July 11, the 50-50 prize went unclaimed when ticket holder number 175286C did not come forward by the deadline. That prize money — $71,732 — was combined with ticket sales Thursday night.
Chad Petryshen of Sherwood Park, a seven-season ticket holder, said he often buys 50-50 tickets and described the size of the pot as an “extra bonus.”
“(I’ve got) as good a chance as anybody else,” Petryshen said.
Edmonton police officers were on hand, standing next to the ticket sellers. Sgt. Rod Appelt said people were “getting a little agitated,” and that officers were there to keep everyone safe.
When one seller finished and his kiosk was shut down, an officer escorted him away as the crowd peppered the officers with questions about sales.
Crystel Baraniecz called the ticket-buying process ridiculous. “You need to be prepared for a larger volume of purchases,” Baraniecz said.
Nearby, men clambered over piles of garbage and cardboard to get past the crush of people trying to buy tickets. .
The Eskimos had to ask the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, which regulates gaming in the province, for permission to roll over the prize money to Thursday’s game.