Chase the Ace in Sydney leaves $1.9M jackpot for next week
Pam Lesnick of Sydney won $263,000 in Saturday's Chase the Ace draw
A Sydney woman went home with $263,000 Saturday from a Chase the Ace draw, leaving an estimated $1.9 million jackpot for week 45.
Pam Lesnick said she was downstairs when her card was drawn at 7:15 p.m.
She left the stage smiling to cheers of support from a large crowd.
"I'm so happy for you," one woman called.
The hugely popular lottery now likely will surpass last year's Inverness event where the jackpot winner took home $1.7 million.
Organizers live streamed the event on YouTube and hundreds of people bought tickets.
Lineup for Chase the Ace tickets in Sydney moving along nicely. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/in?src=hash">#in</a> winning <a href="https://t.co/lXhiWY3Ljh">pic.twitter.com/lXhiWY3Ljh</a>
—@joanweeksThe draw is something like a 50-50 draw, but instead of winning half the value of the ticket sales, the winning ticket holder receives a smaller cut of the take and a chance to draw the ace of spades from a deck of regular playing cards to win the jackpot.
Half the money raised goes to the organization behind the draw, 20 per cent to the weekly winner, and 30 per cent is funnelled into the big prize.
There are now seven cards left in the deck in Sydney's draw.
Crowds have been growing every week and organizers added extra security and an additional venue last weekend to cope with the thousands of people clamouring for tickets.
Tickets are on sale until 6 p.m at eight venues in Sydney:
- Ashby Royal Canadian Legion
- Horizon Achievement Centre
- St. Theresa's Parish Hall
- Mayflower Mall
- Grand Lake Road Fire Hall
- Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion
- New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation
- Sydney Academy
Sydney's Chase the Ace supports the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 138 with a portion of these proceeds going toward the Horizon Achievement Centre and the Beyond the Horizon Building Campaign.
With files from Elizabeth McMillan