EDMONTON -- After a long wait and numerous glitches, a winning number will be drawn for the record-breaking Edmonton Oilers 50/50 next week.
According to the Oilers Foundation, refunds for people who purchased extra tickets due to a technical issue will be processed by early- to mid-week.
The raffle pot will still be $14.3 million after all is said and done, with next week's winner taking home half the prize.
"To be extra cautious, we want to confirm that those monies have been received by people and audited to make sure that everyone was protected," said Ascend Fundraising Solutions CEO Daniel Lewis. "We don’t know whether that's gonna be Monday or Tuesday, but it's sometime early next week."
Ascend Fundraising Solutions will check with each bank to make sure the refunds were sent to the 12,800 people who requested them before the draw takes place.
"We are not doing the draw, even though we could do the draw immediately," Lewis said. "We are in a position to do so; we have a final stamp and approval list. But we want to do make sure those monies have been returned to people."
After tickets for the raffle were made available online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aug. 7 50/50 jackpot broke a record while the team was playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the qualifying round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, at one point rising to $15.2 million.
But some buyers reported that they received "gateway timed out" error messages when trying to purchase tickets — then later discovered the transactions actually went through.
In one case, a woman trying to buy $300 in tickets actually bought $1,500.
"Software is a tricky industry," Lewis said. "We were playing defence throughout the qualifying round for the Oilers where every time we would upgrade the systems to try to meet more demand, the consumers would wildly exceed that demand.
"We are already in process of remedying those issues."
The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation will have generated approximately $17 million from the four 50/50s.
The foundation's executive director, Natalie Minckler, told CTV News the millions raised will be "so significant" for their causes.
"It is hard to put into words, but those dollars are…are really going to be important and impactful transformational projects," Minckler added.
The foundation typically raises between $7 to 8 million per season after more than 40 homes games.
As a result, the Oilers Foundation said more online raffles will definitely be considered next season.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson
