Toronto restaurant owner Ruthie Cummings made headlines earlier this week after she decided to raffle off her German-style gastropub Das Gasthaus. But now the contest is on hold after online ticketing company Eventbrite stopped accepting payments due to legal concerns, reports CTV News.

According to a Facebook post on the Das Gasthaus page, anyone who's already bought a $150 ticket, either online or via snail mail, will receive a refund (though there's likely no reprieve for those who composed a 500-word essay on how to improve the quality of care for Canadian seniors instead of buying their way in).

In the same post, Cummings characterizes the problems with the contest as "a bug," though it sounds more significant than that. She claims on the contest website that she hopes to get the contest back underway as soon as possible, but don't hold your breath.

Are you surprised the contest has already been shut down? Let us know in the comments.