LITTLE CURRENT—The Little Current Lions Club’s popular Catch the Ace progressive lottery turns nine this September and with it, an impressive amount of donations back to the community the club serves—almost half a million dollars.
The Little Current Lions Club was granted the first Catch the Ace lottery licence in the province of Ontario. In fact, the province viewed the club’s new venture a pilot project and kept track of how it all unfolded.
Catch the Ace caught the nation’s attention when the small town of Inverness, Nova Scotia held a ‘Chase the Ace’ progressive lottery back in 2015. Players bought numbered tickets for five dollars each. The person whose ticket was chosen in the weekly draw won a cash prize, plus a chance to pick a card from a deck of cards. If that card turned out to be the ace of spades, they won the accumulated jackpot.
This also captured the imagination of Lions Lori and Dave Draper, who were like the thousands of other Canadians who watched the draw eagerly on the news. That Chase the Ace ran for 48 weeks and in that time, more than 3.5 million tickets were sold, $2.9 million given out in prizes and a total revenue of approximately $5.89 million was generated and split between two local not-for-profits in the community about the same size as Little Current.
The Lions’, and province’s, first ever Catch the Ace draw was held on September 28, 2016 at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #177 Little Current. Since then, the Lions have held 28 Catch the Ace draws.
The rules in Ontario are different from those in Nova Scotia back in 2015. “Catch the Ace is a weekly raffle lottery draw; 20 percent of tickets sales are allotted for the weekly draw prize,” explains Lion Secretary Lori Draper. “The one ticket selected from the ticket drum wins this prize and has a chance at the progressive jackpot. The progressive jackpot builds each week it is not won, with 30 percent of ticket sales added to the prize.” The provincial rules state that the progressive jackpot cannot exceed $30,000 per draw, so if the Ace of Spades is not found by that time, the prize must be won, so an elimination draw occurs with tickets continuing to be drawn until the ace is found.
Within the past year the Lions have doled out some hefty donations thanks to Catch the Ace. “All money raised from proceeds MUST be donated,” Lion Lori explains. “Non-profit organizations, groups, clubs and institutions that meet the criteria of AGCO can all qualify for a donation from us. Little Current Lions Club does not profit from these proceeds.”
There have been several substantial donations of late, including $10,000 to Manitoulin Streams, $10,000 to Little Current United Church for the installation of a heat pump and $10,000 to St. Bernard’s Catholic Church for help renovating the manse.
Those who help sell the tickets for the Lions reap the rewards, too. “The Manitoulin Panthers made an impressive $10,000 this winter by selling tickets,” Lion Bruce says. Organizations that sell Catch the Ace tickets for the club get to keep $1.60 of each ticket sold.
As of April 1, the Lions have doled out $783,828 in prizes. “Since we had our first draw September 2016 we have put smiles on so many faces,” Lion Lori says.
Lion Bruce thanked his secretary for her tireless work in helping to start Catch the Ace and keep it going. “It’s so important to the club, and this community,” he says.
The draws are held each Wednesday and can be watched live on the Lions Club Facebook page. For a complete list of where to buy tickets, visit the Facebook page or visit LittleCurrentLionsClub.com
