Chase the Ace fundraiser starts at Confederation Centre of the Arts

The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown has caught Chase the Ace fever, developing its own version of the popular Maritime fundraiser that starts tonight.

Proceeds will go towards the$5 million cost of second-phase renovations to the Homburg Theatre.

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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.

The fundraiser in Inverness, N.S., captured the attention of people around the world as the jackpot in the tiny town grew to $1.77 million and attracted tens of thousands of people.

In the Confederation Centre of the Arts version of the game, an Anne of Green Gables-themed deck of cards will be used and the card that will determine a winner is the ace of hearts.

Rosie Shaw, the director of philanthropic and donor partnerships for the Confederation Centre, said the fundraiser is appealing because there are multiplewinners.

"It's a lot of fun to play.Somebody will go home with a huge jackpot and there is a weekly winner as well," she said.

Weekly ticket sales will be split, with 50 per cent of the money going to the centre, 30 per cent being pooled into the jackpot, and 20 per cent going to the weekly winning ticket holder, who also gets the chance to draw a card from the deck.

Organizers say the guaranteed jackpot is $2,000.

Shaw said the centre also likes the community focus of Chase the Ace.

"It tends to be community based and we definitely think of ourselves as really important in the community and, again, we do raise money in various ways, but this is the way we are also giving back to somebody," she said.

The fundraiser begins at The Mack Theatre at 7:00 p.m. It will run every Thursday night until Dec. 30 or until the ace of hearts is drawn.