{"id":26381,"date":"2026-04-30T16:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/26381\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:35:08","slug":"how-the-edmonton-oilers-built-pro-sports-largest-50-50-raffle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/26381\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Edmonton Oilers Built Pro Sports\u2019 Largest 50\/50 Raffle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter falling behind the Florida Panthers three games to none in the 2024 Stanley Cup<\/a> Final, the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> flirted with a historic comeback before coming up short in Game 7. But they did manage another astonishing feat that night: Their final-game 50\/50 raffle tallied almost $16 million (C$21.6 million) in sales.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat catapulted the 50\/50 to the stratosphere,\u201d Tim Shipton, the club\u2019s executive vice president of communications and gaming and a board member of its charity, said. \u201cGame 7s of Cup Finals don\u2019t come around all the time, but you do see it. There\u2019s just more momentum, more excitement and more passion around the team, and that does translate to the fans supporting the Oilers Foundation in the 50\/50.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it comes to raising money, the franchise has skated circles around its competition. The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation runs what is widely considered the largest 50\/50 raffle in professional sports. The contest, which awards half of the pot to a winner and donates the other half to charity after expenses, has sold just shy of $350 million (C$472 million) in tickets since 2001, resulting in about $175 million (C$236 million) in prizes for residents of Alberta.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the most recently completed fiscal year, ending on June 30, the Oilers foundation\u2019s raffle sales eclipsed $64 million (C$87.5 million), according to its audited financial statements and based on last year\u2019s exchange rate.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut running an operation of that scale isn\u2019t cheap. The Oilers foundation uses a service provider called Win50, a company accredited by the Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis (AGLC), a provincial-government regulatory body. Win50 also happens to be owned by Edmonton\u2019s ownership group.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the past five fiscal years, the Oilers foundation has paid around $80 million (C$107 million) to Win50, which is reported as \u201clicenses, memberships and dues,\u201d according to publicly available filings at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the charity\u2019s audited financial statements. From July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, about $18 million (C$24.2 million), or almost 28% of total raffle sales, went to Win50, which fronts marketing, promotional and advertising expenses and provides technology, customer service and operational services. Separately, the foundation paid an additional $1.7 million (C$2.3 million) in payment processing fees during that period.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe percentage is high compared to other, smaller-scale contests around the NHL<\/a>, such as the 17.5% of raffle sales the Winnipeg Jets\u2019 charitable arm put toward operational costs or the roughly 11% diverted to expenses by the Vegas Golden Knights\u2019 foundation in a recent offering. However, it is compliant with the AGLC\u2019s rules that say raffle expenditures cannot exceed 30% of total ticket revenue, inclusive of Canada\u2019s goods and services tax.<\/p>\n

\n\tThose Win50 figures lack context, though, the Oilers charity says. The foundation\u2019s most recent audited financial statements offer more granularity than the CRA figures, and they show the service provider was paid slightly over $6 million (C$8.5 million) during the 2024-25 fiscal year after raffle expenses were netted out, representing just shy of 10% of total ticket sales.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat breakdown was not available in the CRA filings, and the foundation said the final net figures can fall between 8% and 10% of total raffle revenue. Based on that range, anywhere from roughly $22 million (C$30 million) to about $28 million (C$38 million) could have flowed to the service provider during that five-year stretch. Those dollars, the foundation noted, are reinvested into maintaining the 50\/50 program\u2019s technology, customer service and operational expertise.<\/p>\n

\n\tWin50 has reportedly worked with the Oilers foundation since 2011, and it operates several other raffles in Alberta. Some of its other clients include the foundations of the Canadian Football League\u2019s Edmonton Elks; the Edmonton Oil Kings and Red Deer Rebels, both junior teams in the Western Hockey League; and Events Edmonton, which produces Taste of Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe size of the Oilers foundation\u2019s raffle expanded dramatically about six years ago. In July 2020, as COVID-19 lockdowns prevented fans from filling the stands at Rogers Place, the Oilers foundation board opted to take the 50\/50 online. Instead of just home games, the offering became available for road matchups and non-event days, while merely requiring internet access inside of Alberta\u2019s borders to participate.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked why the Oilers foundation chose to work with an entity controlled by the team\u2019s owners, it provided the following statement from board chairman Corey Smith: \u201cWin50\u2019s innovation, operational expertise, resources and oversight have enabled us to evolve from a small, in-venue raffle into a province-wide program with hundreds of thousands of customers. \u2026 Ultimately, our partnership with Win50 allows us to maximize our impact in the community and deliver transformational support to more communities, more kids and more families in Oil Country who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSince moving online in 2020, the Oilers foundation has raised nearly $62 million (C$84.2 million) for charity from raffle sales. That\u2019s an almost 600% improvement over the previous five fiscal years, which saw the foundation donate a little over $9 million (C$12.5 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s figures aren\u2019t available yet, but Shipton did say raffle sales were \u201cabout on par with historical averages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the Oilers can turn around their playoff fortunes, the foundation could see even larger numbers. Edmonton staved off elimination on Tuesday after a blowout victory against the Anaheim Ducks and trail 3-2 heading into Thursday night\u2019s matchup in California. But keeping their championship hopes alive isn\u2019t the only benefit of extending the series, especially if the Oilers force a Game 7 in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou always are hoping for deeper playoff runs and more home games to get more fans out to your building,\u201d Shipton said. \u201cCertainly, that applies to the 50\/50 and the dollars raised for charity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After falling behind the Florida Panthers three games to none in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the Edmonton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52,263,271,1142],"class_list":{"0":"post-26381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-stanley-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}