Chase the Ace in Sydney hands out $327K, but $2.2M remains

Sydney's Chase the Ace winner took home $327,000 this weekend, but the real winners are the local causes who are racing toward their own fundraising goals. 

"No event that I know of has ever generated funds like this," said Lisa Reiley, the food service coordinator at the Horizon Achievement Centre in Sydney.

Her organization is one of the groups benefiting from the draw. Each passing week brings them closer to their planned $8 million building to offer vocational training and employment services for adults with mental disabilities or otherwise facing multiple barriers to employment.

"The building may actually be a real reality; that makes it really exciting for us as staff and as clients because we want to be able to offer these services [in a] better facility," Reiley said.

Stephen Tobin, the business development manager at the centre, said it's a win-win.

"People come together in support of a really great cause. The money stays locally; it helps great causes, so people come out in large numbers to support them," he said.

Janet MacDonald of Glace Bay, N.S., won the $327,000 weekend prize. The next draw comes April 23.

Chase the Ace 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.

Every Saturday, 40 per cent of the money raised goes to the organization behind the draw, 30 per cent to the weekly winner and 30 per cent funnelled into the big prize.

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.