A millionaire made: Winner of historic Oilers 50/50 raffle claims $7M

Lady Luck wasn't on the ice with the Edmonton Oilers this season but she certainly had a hand in making one fan very, very flush.

Daryl Tyrlik is $7,088,425 richer after winning the club's record-breaking 50/50 draw. Tyrlik claimed his riches on Monday, taking home half of the $14.2-million total jackpot.

Tyrlik's new-found fortune was awarded after weeks of delays in the draw, which was originally scheduled for Aug. 7, when the Oilers played, and were ultimately eliminated by, Chicago. Ticket sales were frenzied and the record-shattering raffle — operated by the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation — almost became a victim of its own success.

Even before the game began, ticket sales skyrocketed.

A ticket sale frenzy

The game-day raffle opened at 9 a.m., and within the first 15 minutes the pot had hit $6,000 and the website for ticket sales started to experience glitches. The previous two game-night draws had been record-breakers and the foundation had been allowed to double the pot.

By noon, the pot reached nearly $400,000, but many fans eager to test their luck and buy in were met with error messages.

Online sales eventually grew to $15.2 million — a world record for sports 50/50 draws — but the servers were overwhelmed by purchase requests.

Buyers were met with slow loading times and error messages. Many who tried to repurchase tickets were charged multiple times.

The draw was delayed repeatedly as the organization refunded about $900,000 to make up for the technical glitches.

Last week, the foundation said the final pot for the record-setting raffle would be around $14 million and finally drew the winning ticket: A-37051557.

With Tyrlik taking home half the pot, the rest of the money will go to charities and non-profit groups in the Edmonton community.