'A big cheer went up': Chase the Ace jackpot reaches $565K in The Pas

The suspense is rolling on for another week in The Pas, Man.

A Chase the Ace game hosted by the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion in the community that's gone on for over a year — climbing to a possible jackpot of just over $500,000 this week — was once again not won Saturday night.

That means if someone draws the ace of hearts at next week, they'll walk away with $565,480.

"When I told them what next week's jackpot was, well, a big cheer went up, and when she drew the nine of spades it was a big, 'Yay,'" laughed Linda Kuhl, manager of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 19 in The Pas just minutes after the draw.

"I mean they cheered her on — they were hoping for her — but when she didn't draw they thought. 'OK, we're back next week.'"

People have been packing the legion every Saturday night for weeks for their chance at the money, which has been growing since the game started Jan. 7, 2017, with a jackpot of $65,000.

The legion only holds about 200 people, but Kuhl says everyone who gets in ends up buying tickets for friends and relatives who can't make it inside, and Saturday's draw was even live streamed on Facebook.

But that doesn't stop people from trying to get in, says Kuhl, who told CBC News people began lining up for a shot at Saturday's draw — which was held at 10 p.m.— as early as 4:30 a.m.

The legion doesn't even open until 10:30 a.m.

"There was an ice fishing tent in the parking lot and they had a nice little fire going there so people were pretty happy about that," said Kuhl, who added legion staff brought hot coffee to those in line, and eventually just let folks in early because of the cold.

According to Environment Canada it was –42  with the wind chill in The Pas at 5 a.m. CT Saturday.

How it works

The rules of the game are simple: every week the legion draws one ticket. Whoever has that ticket gets to come up and pick a card from a deck, hoping to draw the ace of hearts.

If that person doesn't draw the ace of hearts, they get 15 per cent of the sales proceeds from that week, and 50 per cent of the proceeds are rolled over into the next week's pot.

The rest is donated to non-profits in The Pas. By Saturday the contest had raised $90,000 for those local non-profits.

That means with just over $120,000 in ticket sales this week, Saturday's consolation prize was $18,927 and $12,618 went to the local volunteer group chosen as this week's non-profit.

While she might be getting a little tired of the weekly hoopla that comes with a room full of hopeful ace chasers filling the bar all day every Saturday, Kuhl says the game has been a windfall for the legion.

"We're getting used to it, because it's screwing up our weekends," she laughs. "But it's been lots of fun, we've had lots of wonderful volunteers in here, the people who have been coming have been enjoying it — they're talking to people, they're meeting people — and we've got a lot of new members so all in all it's just been good."

The draw will be held again at the legion next Saturday, but will take a break the following week — if that ace of hearts isn't drawn — as The Pas holds its annual Trappers' Festival.

Kuhl says if the draw gets down to just two cards they'll consider holding those last draws at the community's arena, which can hold around 1,000 people.

"That's going to be crazy," she said.