The support and excitement for the Estevan Bruins Certified Energy Services Chase the Ace raffle fundraiser has been overwhelming since it began in early 2021.
Now, after eight raffle draws and not having the Ace of Spades pulled from the deck of cards, the progressive jackpot has ballooned to over $10,000. As Week 9 kicked off on Sunday, the jackpot was sitting at $10,053.
“The support has been overwhelming from not only the diehard Bruins’ supporters, but from the community as a whole,” said Danny Ewen, director of marketing and operations for the Estevan Bruins. “We’ve had the same names buy tickets every week, some new names splashing in and out of each draw, and now have seen people who typically don’t get to a lot of Bruins’ games and fundraisers join in on the fun and try their luck at winning the jackpot.”
The original starting jackpot was seeded at $3,500 thanks to a longtime supporter of the club: Certified Energy Services. That seed money helped kickstart the raffle and ticket sales and prize amounts have continued to grow consistently every Saturday since the first draw on Jan. 16.
Thus far, $10,622.50 has been donated to the Bruins through 50 per cent of each week’s sales, and $4,249 has been awarded through weekly prize payouts.
Twenty per cent of each week’s sales goes towards the total weekly payouts.
This week’s winner, Sammy Dryden, won $800, which is the largest single week prize thus far.
“We’ve been very happy to see a lot of familiar names and faces as our weekly winners in the Certified Energy ‘Chase the Ace’ raffle,” said Ewen. “Several of them have been Bruins’ season ticket holders for years if not decades. Others have always been supporters of every type of Bruins’ fundraiser, and every one of them has purchased tickets for every single week of the raffle so far. So it’s nice to see those supporters get rewarded.”
All of the proceeds from the Certified Energy ‘Chase the Ace’ raffle goes to support the Estevan Bruins Hockey Club.
Each week, purchase your tickets for a chance to not only win that week’s draw, but the opportunity to pick the ace of spades from the Bruins deck of cards and win the progressive jackpot. Twenty per cent of sales from each week will be won by one lucky ticket. Then that person will attempt to draw the ace of spades and if the ace is drawn, that person wins the grand prize.
If a different card is drawn, the prize pot carries over to next week where it continues to grow until the Ace of Spades is eventually drawn and the grand prize is awarded.
Draws take place every Saturday night at 8:15 p.m. at The Beef Bar in Estevan. People can drop by The Beef to watch, or they can witness it live on the Bruins Facebook page. You do not need to be present to win the draw each week, as a proxy will be used to draw the card if the winning purchaser is not in attendance.
Tickets are $5 each and must be purchased each week to be eligible for that week’s draw. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Estevan Bruins office at Affinity Place during office hours OR you can send a message to the Estevan Bruins Facebook Page indicating the number of tickets you would like to purchase. You can send an E-transfer to pay for your tickets to: payment@estevanbruins.com before 8 p.m. each Saturday. Tickets are also available anytime at two local businesses: The Tower Cafe and The Beef Bar.
The final potential draw date is June 5. If the ace of spades is not drawn before the final draw, or they sell out of all 20,000 tickets available, then the weekly winner will have the first opportunity to draw the card as per usual. If they do not pull the ace of spades, then a new name is drawn out of that week’s tickets. That second name will not win any weekly prize, but will get the next opportunity to pull the ace of spades and win the total jackpot. If they are also unsuccessful, a new name will be drawn until eventually the Ace of Spades is chosen and the jackpot is awarded.
All tickets must be purchased within the province of Saskatchewan. Names on all tickets purchased should reflect that they live in Estevan and surrounding area.
