Chase the Ace in Tignish, P.E.I. swells to $500K

The elusive ace of spades wasn't drawn in the popular Chase the Ace fundraiser in Tignish, P.E.I., on Friday night.

More 2,500 people filled rooms in the Tignish legion and the town's arena to see if they would be the lucky recipient of the jackpot, worth over $497,000.

Every week, a draw winner is invited to pull the ace of spades from a deck of cards. If the ace isn't drawn, the jackpot carries over to the following week

The woman who won the chance to pull the ace last night didn't go away empty handed the 20-per cent take was worth more than $33,000.

There will be 13 cards leftwhen the game resumes next Friday with a jackpot of half a million dollars.

If the draw continues, Tignish could beat Inverness, N.S.,which gave away $1.7 million when the ace was finally drawn last month.

"Well, we'd like to beat it. That would be a great boost for our fire department and our legion," said Tignish arena manager Harvey Myers.

The legion and the fire department are considering whether two sales venues are enough as the draw's popularity on P.E.I. grows.