When ice stops the Dempster Highway’s ferries sailing, Fort McPherson – between two crossings – can lose road access for weeks. This year, some people have extra reason to watch conditions closely.
The community of 750 people is home to a Chase the Ace fundraiser that has been running for more than a year. There are just three cards left and the jackpot has grown to $776,000, organizer Jack Blake told Cabin Radio on Monday.
Records of all Chase the Ace fundraisers held in the NWT are not kept. The current Fort McPherson jackpot is the largest Cabin Radio could find anywhere in the territory in recent history, eclipsing a prize pot of $511,034 won in Hay River in 2016.
But you need to be there in person to stand a chance of winning the whole thing. If the ferries shut down for the season before the ace of spades is drawn, that’ll make getting to Fort McPherson more complicated for the hundreds of people who currently swell into the community for each draw.
To play in a Chase the Ace, you buy a ticket and hope your ticket gets picked. If it does, you then have a chance to draw the ace of spades from a pack of cards.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Find the ace and you win the jackpot. Miss it and the prize pot rolls over to the next week, when the next person will have a slightly smaller pack to choose from.
You must be physically present for the draw or arrange for someone to be there on your behalf. Finding someone local to act as a representative could help players if the ice keeps them away, but that arrangement usually comes with an agreement to split the proceeds if they win.
The winner of last week’s consolation prize – meaning their ticket was drawn for a chance to play, but they did not draw the ace of spades – took home $102,000, Blake said.
“We’re hoping the ferry will stay open until this is over,” he told Cabin Radio.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“There are people within the community that do take money from out-of-towners. Say your ticket won, you would have to split 50/50 with the person in town.”
Environment Canada data suggests this fall has been a little warmer than usual in the region, which might help the ferries run for longer. According to the NWT government, both ferries close in the first week of November in an average year. The ice crossings that replace the ferries have five-year average opening dates of November 24 (Peel River) and December 2 (Mackenzie River).
Alongside the ace of spades, the nine of spades and the four of spades remain. Blake said no Chase the Ace in Fort McPherson has ever gone that deep and he has never seen a jackpot of more than $1 million, “but it’s starting to look like we can do that.”
The largest such prize anywhere in Canada was $8.2 million in 2024.
The Fort McPherson fundraiser has already generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for the newly introduced Peel River Music Festival. The next draw is scheduled for Friday, October 30. Tickets go on sale at 1pm and sales end at 8:45pm, with the draw just after 9pm.
“We’re just very grateful for everybody that’s come out to purchase and come into our little community,” said Blake.
“We’re just very fortunate that this is happening, and it’s not lost on us.”
