Businesses getting in on the game with Hay River's Chase the Ace

N.W.T.'s North-Wright Airways was advertising a special deal this week: a$450 one-way ticket to Hay River from Norman Wells for Chase the Ace.

Thedeal included a night at the Ptarmigan Inn, which itself has a special "Chase the Ace" room rate.

"I've heard of people from Deline who have actually flown to Hay River just for the Chase the Ace," says North-Wright's Sue Wright, who came up with the idea for the flight.

"We always try to be responsive. There's a lot of money in people who just want to travel places to go to these events."

The flight did not end up taking off becauseonly two-thirds of the seats sold. But Wrightsays she may try again after Halloween.

Hay River's Chase the Ace has been going on for months.Every week a winning ticket is drawn in a classic 50-50 style draw. Half the proceeds go tothe community'scurling club, 20 per cent to the winner, and 30 per cent into a rolling jackpot.

$330K pot

The winner of the draw has the chance to pick a random card from a deck. If the ace of spades is drawn, the winner can take home the rolling jackpot.

There are now12 cards remaining, with $330,000 in the pot.

Lyca Capulso works at the registration desk at the Ptarmigan Inn.She says the hotel barhas had to re-purposeits cook to act as a bouncer ("He's a really big guy," she says)to keep the place from going over-capacity.That's with four extra venues open around town.

The game isn't just restricted to residents and people who come in person. Capulso says the live stream she runs each week gets about 1,400 viewers.

Many of those viewersare watching for their tickets to be drawn from as far away as Ontario. They buy their tickets through people who can actually make it in person, and share a cut of the potential prize.