TORONTO — Thomas can’t keep in mind what he stated or heard throughout a gathering final month.
That’s as a result of solely minutes earlier than, he was knowledgeable by Sportsnet anchor Evanka Osmak that he had received half 1,000,000 {dollars}.
A couple of days earlier Thomas, who requested to make use of a pseudonym to protect his privateness, purchased a ticket to the Jays Care 50/50 raffle on a whim after a advertising and marketing e-mail landed in his inbox. After which he forgot all about it.
“While you play this stuff,” he stated, “you don’t actually anticipate you’re going to win.”
When his cellphone rang whereas at work at his IT job on Might 13, he practically rejected the decision from a personal quantity. “I’m glad I didn’t,” Thomas stated. As an alternative, he picked as much as hear Osmak, the host of Sportsnet Central, inform him that he was the winner of the 50/50 grand prize. She requested if he knew how a lot he had simply received. Thomas responded that he thought $50,000 can be nice. “Then she stated, ‘Yeah, $50,000 can be nice. Nevertheless it’s truly (CAD) $538,908.’”
Thomas didn’t have lengthy to course of his shock. He needed to head into a gathering proper afterwards.
“I don’t know what I stated. I used to be clearly speaking and answering questions, however my thoughts was utterly elsewhere, simply pondering, ‘Is that this actual? Did that simply truly occur?’” stated Thomas, who had solely entered the 50/50 a handful of occasions prior.
Through the years, the Toronto Blue Jays’ 50/50 raffle has change into recognized for its eye-popping jackpots and life-changing winnings. The jackpots have caught the eyes of many in baseball, together with former Cleveland Guardians supervisor Terry Francona, who noticed the $82,000 complete in the course of the 2016 ALCS and advised catcher Mike Napoli, “We gotta get in on that.”
The 50/50 raffle, run by Jays Care Basis, the charitable arm of the Blue Jays, awards half of the ticket gross sales to a winner, whereas the opposite half goes to charity. It has topped 9 millionaires to date. Already the largest raffle of its sort in Main League Baseball, it strives to set new information yearly.
A kind of 9 millionaires is a person named Andrew. He had simply gotten house from the heart specialist when his cellphone rang. Fortunately, his coronary heart was in good situation when a consultant from Jays Care known as.
When Andrew answered, he was requested if he obtained a name earlier that day and was advised to examine his voicemail. When he did, there was a message from Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez. In his unmistakable raspy voice, Martinez knowledgeable Andrew that he was the fortunate winner of $2.6 million.
“It was fairly an incredible second,” stated Andrew, who requested to be recognized solely by his first title to guard his privateness.
The win got here at an particularly opportune second for Andrew, who stated he had been coping with private challenges.
“It’s been a really sombre previous few years, and it was good to get some extraordinarily excellent news,” Andrew stated. “And this cash would assist me do a whole lot of constructive issues.”
Andrew, above, initially missed the decision informing him that he was a 50/50 winner. (Courtesy of Jays Care)
The introduction of on-line 50/50 ticket gross sales throughout Ontario in 2019 helped broaden the raffle’s attain. When the pandemic hit in 2020, and the Blue Jays performed their video games away from the Rogers Centre, Jays Care pivoted from each day attracts to homestand jackpots and mega-jackpots, a transfer that allowed the pots to develop bigger and elevated the curiosity. Collectively, these adjustments ushered in an period of large progress with the Jays Care 50/50, producing the top-10 largest jackpots in MLB historical past — all since 2019.
“That’s one thing we’re extraordinarily pleased with,” stated Jays Care government director Robert Witchel. “We wish to make our packages one of the best at school. We wish to attain as many children as doable.”
In 2021, the Jays Care 50/50 recorded $12 million in complete tickets offered — with half going to the winners and the opposite half to the charity. By 2023, complete ticket gross sales had been as much as $33 million, culminating with an Ontario- and MLB-record jackpot of $5.9 million final September. (Congratulations to Mini from Toronto.)
Already this season, the 50/50 has awarded 4 grand prize jackpots totaling greater than $4.3 million, together with a whole bunch of early-bird prizes that embody signed memorabilia, Blue Jays tickets and smaller money prizes. Subsequent month’s Canada Day mega-jackpot will award 10 grand prize winners who will evenly cut up the pot, an concept that got here from fan suggestions, and can embody 157 early-bird prizes to commemorate Canada turning 157 years outdated.
The BIGGEST Jackpot in MLB historical past! 🔥
You requested for it @BlueJays followers, and we listened.. For the primary time ever, we’ll be evenly splitting our mega jackpot between 10 completely different winners! Plus, you will have 157 probabilities to win some unbelievable prizes.🤩
🎟 https://t.co/5chwquqc3r pic.twitter.com/95y8BRUNNj
— Jays Care Basis (@JaysCare) June 7, 2024
A part of what makes the Jays Care 50/50 stand out is its ambassadors — the red-shirted, eclectic and cheerful staff stationed all through the Rogers Centre concourse who promote 50/50 tickets till the ultimate out is made.
The ambassadors’ day usually begins a few hours earlier than first pitch. Within the minutes earlier than the stadium gates open, they collect in a classroom-sized room tucked inside Gate 3. On this Tuesday night in Might, Kelly Woodman, an occasion supervisor with the 50/50 crew, begins by going over their gross sales from the earlier night earlier than instructing them on the gross sales objectives for that evening’s sport.
Lastly, earlier than they hit the concourse, it’s time for his or her cheer.
“50/50!”
Clap clap clap clap clap
“Promote them tickets!”
Clap clap clap clap clap
“Increase that cash!”
Clap clap clap clap clap
“Let’s go!”
“They arrive from all completely different walks of life,” stated Woodman. “It turned like a extremely close-knit household. Everyone is aware of everyone and their spouses and their children and their grandkids… They’re simply actually invested in one another, which is sweet.”
As soon as out on the concourse, the ambassadors unfold out. There are 60 this season, however on common, 30 to 40 work every sport. Every ambassador develops a novel model for attracting prospects. Some are loud and vocal: “50/50 tickets! Come assist the Jays Care Basis!” Others, like Tracey Lung, take a extra curated method.
“I’m actually good at studying individuals,” stated Lung, who’s in her second yr of promoting. “How they method me or whether or not they’re trying down or trying proper at me, I do know whether or not or not I’m going to be attempting to promote them on a ticket, they’re going to get a ticket or I can upsell them.”
Earlier than a potential sale, an envoy will educate the potential purchaser on the charitable initiatives earlier than operating down the assorted ticket choices — 5 for $10, 25 for $25, 100 for $50 or 300 for $125, one of the best deal and greatest odds.
Anna Cappuccitti, one other ambassador, stated there’s a key to being an efficient vendor. “I’m not afraid of rejection,” she stated with fun.
In 2023, the ambassadors had been chargeable for greater than $6.7 million in gross ticket gross sales, a file yr. There’s pleasant competitors among the many sellers, who observe their nightly gross sales; the final word bragging rights belong to whoever sells a jackpot-winning ticket. Cappuccitti has but to promote a grand prize ticket, however hopes her luck will change.
“Individuals inform me I’ve this vibe about me, I really feel fortunate, so that they purchase from me,” she stated. “I all the time say, ‘Hey, I want you win. I’ll say a prayer for you.’ I get their names. I write it. I put it in my cellphone and I’ll say a prayer and so they like it.”
Irrespective of their gross sales tactic, what connects everybody concerned within the 50/50 is the trigger.
Jays Care is chargeable for operating programming for marginalized and underprivileged kids throughout Canada, and so they’re projected to achieve greater than 60,000 children this yr. Their packages embody initiatives equivalent to Women At Bat, which is designed to scale back obstacles anybody figuring out as a lady could face accessing the game, and Challenger Baseball, an adaptive baseball program for youths dwelling with bodily and/or cognitive disabilities to be taught the sport in a protected and inspiring surroundings. Jays Care has twice obtained MLB’s Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence and has been named one of many nation’s high 100 charities by Charity Intelligence Canada, a non-profit charity watchdog.
Ten years in the past, the 50/50 contributed about 10 % of the charity’s general fundraising. At this time, the attracts are chargeable for practically half of the funds raised, in line with Witchel.
And there are plans to continue to grow. This yr, Jays Care expanded on-line ticket gross sales to Nova Scotia after the province’s premier attended a Blue Jays sport and remarked on how massive the prize was.
“I stated, ‘Nicely, would you wish to carry that to Nova Scotia?’ And he was all ears,” Witchel stated.
There are authorized hurdles to clear, however the eventual hope is that the 50/50 will likely be open throughout Canada, which is able to present extra funding for youngsters nationwide.
There’s a distinctive enthusiasm in Canada for 50/50 raffles, engrained deep within the nationwide DNA. Many Canadians grew up collaborating of their native hockey rink’s 50/50 raffles. One other potential purpose? Canadians should not taxed on their 50/50 winnings.
Whereas elevating funds for the charity is Jays Care’s foremost precedence, Witchel stated informing the fortunate winners of their prize can be rewarding. “We undoubtedly have modified lives,” he stated.
Serving to individuals like Andrew and Thomas is a satisfying a part of the job for Lung, one of many ticket sellers.
“It’s robust on the market. The truth that we are able to change anyone’s life simply by them coming to a sport… we’re additionally serving to extra children,” she stated. “It’s simply this wonderful trickle impact.”
Andrew, the jackpot winner from April, has but to resolve what he could wish to splurge on — a brand new set of golf golf equipment is one concept — however primarily, he’s grateful that he can now put together higher for his retirement.
Thomas, the winner of half 1,000,000 {dollars}, isn’t seeking to purchase a brand new home or a luxurious automobile. He’s not planning to make an impulse purchase. “I want I had a extra entertaining reply for you,” he stated when requested what he’d do with the cash.
He grew up in Toronto because the son of immigrants. They didn’t have some huge cash, he stated, and his mother and father had been cautious about their spending. He careworn that he remembers an exquisite childhood, however he strives to provide his two kids — aged six and 9 — greater than he had. Past utilizing his winnings to put money into their future training and assist repay a mortgage and line of credit score, he hopes to spend it on household holidays that may create lasting recollections.
“It provides us that peace of thoughts going ahead,” he stated. “I feel that’s the largest factor for me. Since (I received), I simply felt a bit of bit extra relaxed. It doesn’t change my job. I’m nonetheless motivated the identical quantity at work and with household life. However that general consolation and peace of thoughts is nice to have.”
(High Picture: Daniel Goldfarb / The Athletic; Images: iStock)
