'Thank you for playing': The ace of spades has finally been found in the Hagersville 'Catch the Ace'

After an elusive 45-week draw, the ace of spades has finally been found in the Hagersville ‘Catch the Ace.’

On Thursday, the Hagersville Lions Club held its weekly draw, and the weekly winner chose envelope 51, which contained the ace of spades, netting the winner over $2 million.

While he wasn't in the room, Richard Marshall from Nanticoke, around 20 minutes from Haldimand County, was called to let him know he had won.

He will take home the progressive jackpot which reached $1,831,617 and the additional weekly prize of $203,678.

“There are close to 50 volunteers who put this event on each and every week, especially when we get to these numbers,” President of the Hagersville Chamber of Commerce Rob Phillips said.

“We’re tired, we’re exhausted, but every week we are motivated by the fact we are going to generate $500,000 per week for our charities,” he said.

Phillips said the gross amount going to split up among the charities is $3,052,965. This figure does not include any deduction from expenses that will come off at a later date.

Dan Matten, the event chair with the Hagersville Lions Club sold 152,995 tickets on Thursday – breaking another record for tickets sold – and a lot more on a weekly basis compared to the 115 sold in the first week.

The Lions took in $1,018,390 in ticket sales on Thursday and a total of $6,105,390 during the entire progressive jackpot.

“Thank you for playing,” he added.

(Terry Kelly/CTV Kitchener)

‘Catch the Ace’ is a progressive raffle where players purchase tickets to guess which envelope contains the ace of spades. Until it’s found, money keeps going into the pot.

People put their names, phone numbers and an envelope number on the ticket to guess which remaining envelope holds the ace of spades. A poster shows which envelope numbers have not yet been opened and are available to choose.

Only one ticket was drawn each week.

On Thursday’s draw, there were only eight envelopes that had yet to be opened – meaning the chances of finding the ace were one in eight.

Each week the chances of finding the ace increased as the number of available envelopes dwindled.