EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers Foundation doesn’t know when it will pick the winning number for its record breaking 50/50 draw, as it sifts through a flurry of refund requests.
On Aug. 7 Albertans flocked online to purchas 50/50 tickets, however the demand was too great and created problems for people trying to connect to the online raffle.
“Certainly we will improve on this and learn from this experience but the most important thing here is when you make a mistake and you don't have the right setup for the customer is you don't hide behind it,” said Daniel Lewis, Ascend Fundraising Solutions CEO.
“You get in front of it and say we are going to make this right,” he added.
Another major issue people faced was getting more tickets than they thought they were paying for.
Taylor Kordyban wound up with $120 worth of tickets, more than she could afford.
““I know a lot of people out there have gotten it a lot worse than I have but you know it’s not the greatest feeling especially when you don’t have the funds to afford all of those tickets that you didn’t want to purchase,” said Kordyban.
The foundation gave ticket a chance to return unwanted purchases until noon last Thursday, however some have complained of a lack of correspondence.
“I sent them an email and everything and I have not heard back,” added Kordyban.
Out of 295,000 transactions, officials say 15,000 were requested to be reversed.
“The next step will be to void all of those transactions and remove them from the draw to complete a final list of those people who are entered into the contest,” said Lewis.
The AGLC told CTV News that it is providing support to the community foundation to make sure the raffle goes ahead successfully and follows all regulations
“We want to close the draw just as much as anybody else does. We want to complete the process but it's really, really important that we allow people's credit cards to refund the dollars that people see it on their statements,” said Natalie Minckler, Executive Director of the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.
As of Saturday, the jackpot was just over $15.2 million dollars, however the foundation won’t say where it sits now,
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
