The Edmonton Oilers' 50/50 contest will more than double the amount of tickets it sells for the teams' game on Friday, after maxing out their ticket sales hours before game time on Wednesday.

The 50/50 draw opens with two and a half times as many tickets available for sale on Friday morning at 9 a.m.

The pot was previously maxed out on Wednesday afternoon, six hours before the Oilers game was scheduled to start, at $5,417,130 after the draw hit the server provider's maximum allowable ticket sales.

The winner took home $2,708,565, a world record for sports 50/50 draws, the organization stated.

The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation keeps the other half of the winnings.

Janet Riopel, a board chair of the foundation, stated in a Thursday news conference that she expected the foundation might take a hit due to COVID-19 and a lack of games, which would impact the money they can donate to local charities.

Instead, she's been pleasantly surprised this won't be the case, and the foundation will be donating the extra 50/50 playoff winnings to non-profits and organizations in downtown Edmonton. They will decide on how this will be distributed at an upcoming meeting.

Youth Empowerment & Support Services [YESS] has received money through the Oiler 50/50 draws before. The organization's executive director Margo Long said previous 50/50 draws have been so small they don't add a huge boost to their funding. They're often around five figures, which is enough to cover the annual salary for one of its 80 workers.

The group has seen an increase in demand for its youth shelters and day programs along with an increase in clients overdosing during the pandemic.

Long hopes the large 50/50 pots equate to a large sum for groups in need.

"It is hard to see that there's a significant amount of money sitting there. Where is it going to go? A lot of the privilege that can happen with some of the fundraising or the sports arenas doesn't always trickle down to the people who need it," Long said.

"And so I think there's a huge opportunity here for some significant change. And I would hope that they actually choose something that they give a significant lump sum to with not a lot of restrictions."

Aside from the highly anticipated 50/50 draw, there is also a hockey game tomorrow.

The puck drops in Game 4 of the Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks' qualifying round series at 4:45 p.m. with Chicago holding onto a 2-1 series lead of the best of 5 series.