Chase the Ace an increasingly popular fundraiser

With the publicity surrounding lucrative Chase the Ace draws in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. more service clubs are climbing on the bandwagon and launching their own lotteries as a fundraiser.

25 community groups on P.E.I. now hold Chase the Ace licences

CBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2015 11:06 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 6, 2015

The Miscouche Legion has raised about $5,000 with the Chase the Ace lottery. (CBC)

With the publicity surrounding lucrative Chase the Ace draws in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. more service clubs are climbing on the bandwagon and launching their own lotteries as a fundraiser.

Chase the Ace ended in Inverness, N.S. last week with a $1.7 million draw. Chase the Ace in Tignish, P.E.I. continues with this week's jackpot at almost $300,000.

Those two draws alone have also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local community groups, and that has attracted a lot of interest from groups across P.E.I.

The P.E.I. government says it has issued licences to 25 community groups to play Chase the Ace for charity fundraising.

Jackpots build every week in Chase the Ace lotteries, because the grand prize is only awarded if the weekly winner pulls the ace of spades from a deck of cards. Every week the drawn card is discarded.

"As long as the amounts go up it will probably keep the interest," said Tracy DesRoche, manager of the Miscouche Legion.

The Miscouche Legion has been running a Chase the Ace for several months, and is proof the lottery is not a guarantee of riches for the sponsored charity. With 18 cards left in the deck, the jackpot stands at $3,831.50.

"I hope we can raise enough money to make some major changes in this legion because we do need it," said DesRoche.

DesRoche said the lottery has raised about $5,000 so far, and while that is a long way from what they are getting in Tignish and Inverness, she said it is a lot more than what they would get from a lottery on gift basket.