Selkirk woman wins $108K 'Chase the Ace' lottery prize in Riverton, Man.
50-50 style draw amassed big pot over weeks, culminating with winning selection by Heather Moar
A Selkirk, Man. woman is $108,000 richer after winning a 50-50 style lottery over the weekend that she plans to split four ways.
"It's still really unbelievable," said Heather Moar. "I'm still trying to absorb it and soak it all in. The shock is still there."
Moar won the Chase the Ace draw at the Riverton Motor Inn Saturday in Riverton, Man., about 125 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
The game resembles a standard 50-50 lottery: players purchase tickets and bar employees do a draw every Saturday night. The lucky ticket-holder is invited to draw one of 52 cards, and if they draw the ace of spades they take home the pot. If they don't pull the ace, the prize is held over until the next week when another draw takes place.
There were just three cards left to draw when Moar's ticket was called.
"I didn't believe it at first," Moar said. "Once they called the number three times I just started shaking. I looked up at my girlfriend across the table and [said], 'Oh my god, that's my ticket!'"
She admits it might sound a little silly, but Moar hovered her hands over top of the remaining cards "looking for some kind of energy."
"I went to the top card and hovered my hand for a little bit, and sure enough I felt a little bit of heat," Moar said. "I thought, 'Give me a sign here.'"
All signs pointed to the winning card, Moar said.
"She flipped it right up and it was chaos after that," Moar said. "I've got war wounds. I've got bruises on my arms from jumping up and down and us hugging each other."
Moar, her boyfriend and two friends had been participating for two months when she drew the ace on Saturday. The group made a pact early on to split the winnings four ways, Moar said. A fifth friend, who lives near Riverton and turned the group onto the game, will also get a "finder's fee," Moar added.
Some of the funds will be set aside for her son's post-secondary education and to buy tickets to a friend's destination wedding, Moar says. She also has plans to put some of her winnings toward the purchase of a camper.
"Now that we're not at Chase the Ace in Riverton on weekends I can actually do some camping," Moar laughed.