Fort McPherson’s Chase the Ace jackpot, worth more than $150,000, was won on Friday night.
The ace of spades was drawn from six remaining cards by Fort McPherson resident Karen Blake. Cabin Radio understands Blake had an arrangement to split the winnings with a woman from Dawson City.
The value of the jackpot was $151,906.56, organizer Sierra Daley told Cabin Radio.
As hundreds of people watched using a range of Facebook live streams, Blake called Cynthia – her acquaintance in Dawson City – immediately on discovering she had drawn the ace.
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“She doesn’t believe me,” said Blake, shortly before realization dawned on Cynthia and her screams of joy could be heard emanating from the phone.
Fort McPherson’s Chase the Ace had grown increasingly popular in recent weeks, partly thanks to a series of fun video sketches.
A video shared by the Gwich’in Tribal Council, and watched more than 13,000 times at the time of writing, shows a woman dressed as the ace of spades being driven away by an RCMP officer in a police truck, lights flashing, while howls of laughter are heard in the background.
Tickets cost $5 each. Proceeds from the community’s Chase the Ace are used to fund the Peel River Jamboree.
