SYDNEY, N.S. — A Chase the Ace jackpot worth nearly $2 million is expected to lure fortune hunters from across eastern Canada to Cape Breton this weekend.
Event organizer Stephen Tobin says the top prize for the draw in Sydney, N.S., is expected to be $1.9 million with seven cards left in the deck.
Tobin says thousands have been travelling to the city of roughly 30,000 people in recent weeks for their shot at the jackpot, with busloads of people coming from as far away as Montreal.
He said last Saturday, about 66,000 curious viewers from Fort McMurray, Alta., to Jamaica tuned into the live-stream of the all-day event, which takes place at nine different venues across the city.
Tobin says the live-stream has prompted many Cape Breton residents to host Chase the Ace parties while others opt to hang around the various venues, gabbing over drinks and playing cards to pass the time until the draw.
This week's draw, which benefits the Horizon Achievement Centre and Ashby legion, will start around 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Chase the Ace is like a 50-50 draw in which players buy numbered tickets for about five dollars each.
The winner gets a percentage of the total ticket sales and a bigger jackpot if they pull the ace of spades from a deck of cards that gets smaller with each successive draw.
