EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers said their servers were “overwhelmed” with requests to buy 50/50 tickets on Friday, causing location errors for some customers, and duplicate orders for others.
Some users reported being charged multiple times for tickets, while others received a message that they were unable to purchase tickets from their location.
“It was a disaster from the get go,” Shannon Low told CTV News Edmonton.
After hours of trying to buy tickets she finally got through to the check-out page.
“I would get gateway timed out error so that happened I don’t know maybe four or five times and then it finally went through,” she said.
But Low didn’t realize that the previous transactions actually had gone through.
“So instead of getting $300 worth of tickets I got $1,500.”
“I cannot afford $1,500 in tickets. I immediately tried emailing the Oilers foundation and I just got the generic reply,” she said.
She wasn’t the only one who found herself in that situation.
Taylor Kordyban was charged $120, five times more than what she said she could afford to spend.
“It didn’t make me feel very good,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “Especially since I’m low income and I was only expecting to pay $20 for the tickets. One hundred and 20 dollars definitely left me a little shocked.”
Despite multiple requests for an on-camera interview, the Oilers only issued a written statement on Saturday to address the situation.
The organization said they are now working with their service provider to resolve those customer issues, and that they are in contact with partners and Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis.
The issues have also led to a delay in picking the winner of Friday’s draw.
The Oilers said demands for tickets on Friday exceeded $100,000 per minute at the high points.
The AGLC also issued a statement on the draw on Saturday.
“AGLC is aware of the challenges associated with the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation 50/50 online raffle and concerns ticket purchasers experienced.
AGLC has been monitoring the situation and will continue to communicate with the EOCF as they address these issues.
We ask for the public to be patient as the EOCF works through this process.”