Do you have the (green and) golden ticket?
The Edmonton Eskimos may have won Friday’s home opener game against the Montreal Alouettes, but the no winner has stepped forward to claim the game’s 50/50 prize.
The $82,060 50/50 prize was announced twice during the game, which had an attendance of 31,828 people. The winning ticket number was 209759C.
Edmonton fans love their 50/50 draws. The team describes it as a snowball effect: as the total take-home number on the big screen rises at Eskimos games, more and more people get in line to buy their 50/50 tickets.
“We have the best results throughout the country,” Edmonton Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes told Global News last week.
“Other teams are watching and copying what we do. That’s the best flattery of all — when people do what you’re doing because it works.”
READ MORE: 50/50 frenzy: why Edmonton is so obsessed with playing the odds
Half the prize goes to the ticket holder, while the other half goes to several local football organizations:
- Football Alberta
- Eskimo Alumni Association
- University of Alberta Golden Bears
- Edmonton Wildcats Junior Football Club
- Edmonton Huskies Junior Football Club
The latter two get a bigger chunk of the pie, as they supply the volunteers who sell the 50/50 tickets on game days.
The Huskies said they use the funds for travel, operational expenses and equipment. They also use it to help with other fundraising efforts that support post-secondary scholarships for players.
READ MORE: Where’s the other half of the Eskimos’ 50/50 jackpot going?
If the prize is not claimed by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4, the amount will roll over into another game. That happened three years ago, when a $72,000 unclaimed prize was rolled over into the next game, where the pot ballooned to a $348,534 prize that was claimed by a 20-year-old fan.
It was the highest payout ever in the CFL. More than 40,000 people attended that game, and many stood in long lines for a chance to get their hands on the enormous prize.
— With files from Quinn Ohler
Comments