The Oilers Entertainment Group has pushed back on a report from the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) that claims a subsidiary company has been taking a large chunk of 50/50 raffles from Edmonton Oilers games.

The IJF’s Brett McKay’s report highlighted how $81 million over the last four years has gone to Win50, an organization within the OEG that operates the raffles. The report highlighted how over the last five years, the percentage Win50 has taken from the charitable amounts of the 50/50 has risen from 14.7 percent in 2020, up to 27.7 percent in 2023 and 2024.

Over that time, the IJF report showed the percentage of ticket sales available for charities has declined, falling from 37.6 percent in 2017 to 19.6 percent in 2024. OEG has contracted Win50 to operate its 50/50 lotteries since 2011.

That 19.6 percent available pales in comparison to other Canadian teams in 2024, the report noted, with the Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Foundation giving 42.2 percent of proceeds to charitable activities, while the Montreal Canadiens’ Children’s Foundation giving 36.9 percent and the Winnipeg Jets’ True North Youth Foundation giving 34.8 percent.

Oilers owner Darryl Katz has the voting control of Win50, the Oilers told the IJF.

Myrna Khan, executive director of the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation, told the IJF that increased expenses are a result of the 50/50 raffle selling tickets online, something the regulatory body Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), began allowing in 2020.

After the report was released, the EOCF put out a statement with a definitive “bottom line,” which claimed the IJF report “fundamentally misleads readers” in its representation of the 50/50 program by focusing on percentages rather than the unprecedented charitable impact being delivered to Alberta communities.”

The bottom line stated, “More money is going to Alberta charities than ever before because of strategic investments in operational excellence, not despite them.”

EOCF’s statement also offered “key corrections” to IJF’s reporting, highlighting Win50’s role in managing “all operating costs,” including technology, marketing, advertising, prizes, compliance, that “transformed ticket sales from $25 million (2017-2020) to $318.7 million (2021-2024).” Other notes included AGLC and EOCF’s regulatory oversight, the latter of which includes an independent Board of Directors, nine of 12 of whom aren’t within OEG.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.