Edmonton Oilers 50/50 jackpots top other raffles in pro sports

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The Edmonton Oilers 50/50 is heating up alongside the team as they continue to battle back against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Oilers’ 50/50 raffle, run by the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation (EOCF), has become the stuff of legend. Four games into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the jackpot for this series has already climbed above $6.3 million, giving one lucky fan the chance at a whole new life with more than $3 million more than they had. While impressive, the number still pales in comparison to last year’s record-setting jackpot that came before it, but the team’s 50/50 wasn’t always this wealthy.

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Just seven years ago, an Edmonton Journal article highlighted a 2018 50/50 prize of $210,358, achieved during an October game against the Minnesota Wild, showing just how quickly the prizes have changed. In the same article, Edmonton Journal reporter, Derek Van Diest, mentioned that the record at the time for a 50/50 prize was $336,995, which had been set the year before in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2017.

Comparatively, the current $6.3 million jackpot takes a significant jump up in prize money from the record set years before, yet still doesn’t come close to the new record. In fact, last year’s playoff run led to the largest jackpot in Oilers history, which was also biggest purse in professional sports history with a total of $18 million on the line.

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Despite operating in a relatively small market and less popular league than its many professional counterparts, the grasp the Edmonton Oilers have on the most valuable 50/50 raffle is strong. Not even the Super Bowl can touch it.

For context, the total 2024 Super Bowl 50/50 jackpot was $500,000, which, coincidentally, made three B.C. residents richer when they took home their $250,000 prize. While any money won is a positive for the winners, just a regular season game for the Oilers against the Calgary Flames in March this year still gave one lucky fan more than $1.02 million.

So what makes the Oilers 50/50 so different? A change to regulations at Alberta Gaming Liquor Cannabis (AGLC) in 2020.

In 2020, the Edmonton Journal wrote about the Oilers Community Foundation’s 50/50 setting a new world record take-home prize of $1.6 million from a total jackpot of more than $3 million. Days later, the record was annihilated by another Oilers raffle, which brought in more than $14 million.

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The successive leaps in jackpot sums were hot on the heels of an AGLC rule change in July 2020 allowing the online sale of 50/50 raffle tickets —  a significant change from the in-person purchase restriction that had previously kept the purse down.

Community foundation executive director at the time, Natalie Minckler, praised AGLC’s move.

“The changes announced will allow the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and other charities across the province to have greater flexibility and access to fans who want to support the program,” said Minckler.

Fans poured in to support the program.

At the time, AGLC highlighted the 19,000 charitable gaming licences distributed in 2018-19, which kicked in $347 million in charitable gaming proceeds. In 2023-24, it reported earning $409.3 million, with more than 23,000 charitable licences distributed.

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Despite other major sports organizations in the province having the same opportunity to benefit from the rule change, the community foundation’s 50/50 continues to outperform them.

From March 27 to April 3, the Calgary Flames 50/50 raffle jackpot hit nearly $400,000, which is significantly better than most raffle purses in professional sports. Still, over the same time period the Oilers prize was more than $1 million.

The change led to a surge in activity for the community foundation’s 50/50 and drove the jackpots up so quickly that it briefly crashed the system in 2020. It has also given the Oilers Community Foundation healthy funding for its goals of growing the game of hockey in Oil Country, focusing on the needs of the city’s Downtown community, and stepping up in times of crisis to help the community.

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Whether it’s a few hundred thousand or more than $10 million, like last year’s playoff 50/50 winner, the Oilers 50/50 has added an exiting feature for viewers watching the game.

zdelaney@postmedia.com

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