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.

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.

• Chase the Ace winner receiving well wishes from around the world

• Chase the Ace continues in Tignish, jackpot $293K

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 issuedlicencesto 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 TracyDesRoche, manager of theMiscoucheLegion.

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.

'Struggling with the revenue streams'

The Kingston Legion in New Haven is one of the latest groups to give it a try.

So far there have been just four draws for the ace. Legion vice president Allan Crane is hopeful.

"Like most small branches, we're struggling with the revenue streams to keep our branch open and viable," said Crane.

In the first week the Kingston Legion sold just 84 tickets, but Crane said in Inverness there were only 35 tickets sold in the first week..