Each week at the event, the Lions sell 322 tickets. From those tickets, they make a draw and the winner has a chance to “chase the ace.” The Lions show the winner the ace of spades out of a pack of cards, then shuffle them and lay them face down. The participant picks a card, and if it is not the ace, they win $25. The money from ticket sales goes into the next week’s draw and on until the ace is picked. Fingas said they start with 54 cards, then cut them down as the weeks go on. Manitoba Lotteries has changed the rules a bit over the years, so participants can no longer pick up their own card, but instead they lay a marker on them, and a Lion picks it up.

“It is a fun night out, an outing every Friday. There is a lot of yipping, yelling and yahooing.”

They start with a float of $250, and then add to it from the ticket sales. Fingas said the Lions Club keeps half the money for projects. In the past, the club has given the money from it, as well as the meat draws that accompany it, to a specific group.

“Sometimes a group comes to us for help on a project,” Fingas explained, “so we might decide to give the money from four meat draws to it, or give it to a community project. There have been quite a few over the years. It works out well, because often we get more people from that group come to the event and boost the numbers.”

In the last few weeks of Chase the Ace, they cut down the number of tickets each individual can buy initially. Fingas said they like to give everyone the chance to buy a ticket and participate. If there are some left over, they open it up again.

“We don’t want some people not getting a ticket, and we will sell out regardless.”

Fingas said they have a regular group who show up and support the event. Sometimes a group will buy tickets together and split the pot. There is a lot of fun, full tables and money for a good cause.

“I think we’ll continue this,” the Lion president said. “Like I said, it is a really good fundraiser for us.”

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff