Chase the Ace continues in Tignish, jackpot $293K

The hunt continues for the elusive ace of spades in the tiny, western P.E.I. community of Tignish.

The fundraiser for the local legion and fire department started out as a community fundraiser, but as the ace of spades stayed in the deck, and the jackpot climbed into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, it became much bigger.

The community, with fewer than 800 of its own residents, is now attracting thousands of people to buy the weekly $5 tickets.

"It's unreal, you know. You don't believe that it can happen," said deputy fire chief Allan Gavin.

"Never dreamt in a million years that it would go up that high. But you know, we knew the potential was there, but just never ever thought it would reach that. Thought somebody would be lucky enough to pick it before this."

Every week the draw winner is invited to try to pull the ace of spades from a deck of cards. If the ace isn't drawn, the jackpot carries over into the next week. The jackpot for this coming Friday is $293,000, up more than $35,000 from the week before.

There are still 16 cards left in the pack, so the lottery could technically continue for several months.

The next draw is this Friday night at 8 p.m.