There will be another chance in two weeks for someone to pull a lucky ace from a dwindling card deck in a small Cape Breton town and win hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They're down to six cards for the next draw in Inverness on September 26th.
Thousands made the weekly pilgrimage on Saturday. The ace-chasing crowd rushed to the ticket selling table at noon, and some weren’t taking any chances.
“We came up about 4 a.m.,” said early bird Charles Keeping. “We were here sitting first in line to stay dry.”
The jackpot stood just under $1 million after Saturday's sales.
That had many dreaming big.
“I’d probably spend it,” said ticket buyer Jimmy Munro. “Right to the Ford dealership for a new truck after that.”
“It’s a lot of fun,” said ticket buyer Mike Carroll. “It’s an experience. You really have go to be here to enjoy it.”
After 46 weeks, organizer Cameron MacQuarrie admits he wouldn’t be upset to see it end.
“We’d like to see it go and someone be very fortunate to win and it would give us certainly a break,” he said. “But on the other hand, we did sign up for 52 weeks.”
In order to accommodate the large numbers expected, organizers were able to get permission to open the doors two hours early. Ticket sales ran from noon until 5 p.m.
Bell Mobility put up a portable cell tower to accommodate the additional phone traffic.
The RCMP boosted their numbers, bringing in extra parking restrictions.
“We're here to make sure that people come to the venue safe, and also leave the venue safe,” said Sgt. Dave Thibeau. “There's going to be a lot of traffic here this evening, so we're here to make sure the traffic control is done properly.”
Local businesses welcomed the late-season tourism boom, which included boats coming across the Northumberland Strait from P.E.I.
The draw has raised money for the local legion and a centre for adults with intellectual disabilities.
With files from the Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh.
