Oilers set to announce date for 50/50 draw

A company has finished issuing refunds for Oilers 50/50 raffle tickets sold Aug. 7 and the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation said it will give an update on when the winning $14.3-million ticket will be drawn Friday morning.

The foundation again delayed the draw for the world-record-breaking ticket — of which the winner will take half — after it was cancelled Wednesday when customers came forward saying their refunds had not been completed.

“Customers should see dollars returned to their bank accounts over the coming days,” the foundation said in a statement posted on its website Thursday evening. “We are reviewing the final raffle participant list from our technology provider, Ascend Fundraising Solutions, to ensure it is accurate and up to date. We thank everyone once again for their patience as we work through this process.”

The delayed draw came as the organization faced a backlog of refunds after technical glitches led to some buyers being charged multiple times for raffle tickets sold during Game 4 between the Oilers and the Blackhawks Aug. 7.

The company previously voided about 12,800 of 297,000 purchases. Buyers had until noon Aug. 13 to apply for refunds by forwarding duplicate confirmations to Void5050@edmontonoilers.com.

Once the ticket is drawn, more than $7 million of the funds will be directed to charities.

Customers reached out to the foundation on Tuesday and Wednesday saying their refunds had not been processed, spokesman Tim Shipton said Wednesday.

The jackpot soared to more than $15 million during the raffle but after refunds were calculated the winning amount dropped by about $1 million.

The $14.3-million raffle ticket draw set a world record, beating the previous record of $3.2 million set days before during the previous Oilers 50/50 raffle.