The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation promised it would draw the winning ticket for the Aug. 7 online 50/50 raffle at noon on Friday.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the winning ticket number was announced: A-37051557.
The total jackpot will be approximately $14.1 million, with the winner taking home half ($7,088,425) as the prize.
The holder of the winning ticket will have until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2 to claim their prize by contacting the 50/50 office at 5050@edmontonoilers.com and forwarding their purchase e-mail along with a copy of their government-issued photo identification and address.
The winning 50/50 number was supposed to be picked on Wednesday at 4 p.m., after being delayed for more than two weeks.
However, at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, more than one hour after the draw was scheduled to take place, the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation said it would have to be delayed again.
“Due to delays in processing final refunds for the Aug. 7 Oilers online 50/50 raffle, we are postponing the draw for the winning ticket to ensure customers who followed the requisite refund process can ensure their tickets have been voided and refunds initiated,” the organization said in a message on Twitter.
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“Our tech provider Ascend has assured us this work will be done in short order and we will be able to draw soon.
“We again apologize for the inconvenience this delay has caused. We are disappointed, but the integrity of the draw and consumer protection has always been our top priority.”
READ MORE: Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation offering 50/50 refunds after issues with Friday’s draw
Issues with the draw caused some fans to end up with multiple purchases. A number of fans told Global News they ended up with tickets even though the site crashed before a confirmation screen appeared.
On Aug. 10, the Oilers announced it would be offering refunds.
Staff have spent the last few weeks auditing and finalizing the refund and confirmation lists in an effort to make sure the final list of participants is accurate.
READ MORE: Winning ticket for Edmonton Oilers 50/50 delayed another week as team processes refunds
However, some people told Global News Friday they still hadn’t received their refund. Others say they have no way of knowing if they won because they still haven’t received a confirmation email with ticket numbers.
Jason Theiss is still waiting on a $250 refund despite his request 17 days ago.
“It’s a very frustrating process and we’re kind of left now asking ourselves: ‘Where do we go from here? Do we contact our credit card company?’ We’ve been in contact with the AGLC and they’ve responded. We’re going to continue to contact them.
“We continue to check our credit card statement every couple of hours to see if any type of refund has been processed,” Theiss said.
“What it comes down to is the poor communication through this whole process of the issues,” he added.
“I feel bad for everybody in this situation. I feel bad for the community foundation, I feel bad for the charities, I feel bad for everybody who spent their hard-earned money on this raffle. We’re only out $250, there’s many who are our $1,900 – $2,000.”
Theiss says he’ll never buy another 50/50 again.
“I just feel cheated… that the community foundation did not communicate properly through this process. I hope that this is a massive learning process.”
The Oilers say all refunds have been processed but that it may take a few days to show up on people’s statements.
In a statement to Global News Friday night, the AGLC said it observed the draw and will continue to examine and evaluate the raffle as part of its compliance audit.
“Audits ensure all organizations that receive gaming funds follow the standards, policies, conditions and guidelines for receiving and using those funds,” Heather Holmen explained.
“If it is determined that the raffle was not conducted in accordance with raffle licensing policies, and depending on what that outcome was, AGLC may follow up with disciplinary action.
“If a compliance audit results in an administrative sanction (violation), it would be posted to the Board Decisions section of our website,” Holmen said.
“The only thing I saw from the Edmonton Oilers was: ‘Thank you for your patience.’ Not to me directly; just a public statement,” Karen Jacobsen said. “There was nothing emailed to me or I didn’t get any contact from the 50/50 corporation.
“Then today I saw they were going to draw the winning ticket at noon. I have not received any refunds. I was surprised to see they were going to draw the winning ticket,” she said.
“I did email on Tuesday the 50/50 saying: ‘Could you please give me confirmation of these void tickets?’ and all I got was an automatic response.”
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