With just six cards left to choose from, thousands of Nova Scotians are lining up for their chance to win millions in Sydney鈥檚 wildly popular 鈥淐hase the Ace鈥� fundraiser.
Now in its 48th week, the jackpot has reached $2.2 million and could be decided Saturday night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 truly exciting,鈥� event organizer Stephen Tobin told CTV鈥檚 Canada AM on Friday. 鈥淭he momentum is huge right across Cape Breton Island, right across the Atlantic provinces and now we see people partaking in the event from right across Canada.鈥�
This incarnation of Chase the Ace has been going on since May. But even after 11 months, Tobin is seeing 鈥渓arge increases both in attendance and in sales.鈥�
The lottery has become even more popular since organizers added a option, which attracted more than 70,000 viewers for the last draw.
For every round of the fundraiser, participants buy five-dollar tickets for the draw. When a ticket is selected from the pool, the winner automatically gets 30 per cent of the money that's been raised for that day.
Another 40 per cent goes to charity, and the remaining 30 per cent gets added to the big jackpot.
In addition to winning 30 per cent of the day鈥檚 ticket sales, the winning-ticket holder is invited to draw a card from a standard 52-card deck. Whoever selects the ace of spades wins the big money prize.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge charity component to this,鈥� Tobin said.
The two charities that benefit from the fundraiser are the Ashby Legion Branch 138, a local organization that advocates on behalf of veterans and the Horizon Achievement Centre, a provider of employment development services for adults with intellectual disabilities.
If no one picks the all-important ace, another draw is held in two weeks. That means the last possible draw for this jackpot would be on July 2.
The next draw will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
