Chase the Ace at $1.2M 'really big' for Cape Breton town, organizer says

The lure of an estimated$1.2 million jackpot drewhundreds toChasethe Ace in North Sydney, N.S. on Sunday.

The excitement of a huge win is "the luck of the draw, for sure," organizer Debra MacLean said.

The ace wasn't drawnSunday afternoon, but there was a winner anyway awoman from Reserve Mines, N.S.,wenthome with just under $80,000.

The lottery is popular. Four organizations in the community have teamed up over the last year and a half to run several of the popular card game fundraisers but none have come close to this.

"This is really good for us," MacLean said.

Growing jackpots

To play Chase the Ace, people buy a ticket like in a 50-50 draw. If their ticket is drawn, they get a percentage of ticket sales orthe jackpot, if they get the lucky ace of spades.

Unlike some draws such as the onein the Cape Breton community ofInverness in October 2015, the winner in the North Sydney event does not have to present at Sunday's North Sydney event.

The next draw is Jan. 8 with an expected jackpot of $1.3 million.

Each week the deck gets smaller and the odds of winning get higher.

The popular fundraiser grew to fame last year as jackpots in Atlantic Canada grew into the millions. At a draw inSydney last spring,one womanhome from working in Albertawon$2.9 million.

'A place we've certainly never been'

The North Sydney fundraiser, called Northside4 Chase the Ace, is going towards theEmeraCentre, junior sailing programs at NorthernYachtClub and SeaviewGolf, as well asHaley Street Adult Services Centre Society, of which MacLean is executive director.

Haley Street has made $300,000 since the games began a year and a half ago, "a very, very significant amount of money" to the group's annual $1.1 million budget, she said.

"That's really big," she said. "This is a place we've certainly never been."

'Sense of community'

The groups have used the money to buy a 15-passenger van, renovatewashrooms, make an addition to abuilding and bought jackets for usersstaff and volunteers.

"People like to have a sense of community, I think, and part of Chasethe Ace's attraction is that the money is staying in the local community," MacLean said.

"We get a lot of people coming in and saying, 'Gee, I hope it doesn't even gothis week. You guys need some more money.'"

• Chase the Ace good and bad points need discussion, doctor says

The Haley Street group doesn't have money for capital expenses, and previous fundraising efforts never pulled in enough,MacLeansaid. One of their previousmainfundraisers,a ladies night,took four months of organizing to bring in $8,000 on the best year, she said.

"When we have this opportunity, we really can't turn it down," she said.

There were 10cards left in the deck after Sunday's draw.

• Bigger jackpots, tougher rules in Nova Scotia