Jeanne Spinney had never played Chase the Ace.
But the Brooklyn, Yarmouth County native brought the months long event at the West Pubnico Legion to an end on Friday night.
Spinney says was at the fire hall in West Pubnico when she found out she had the winning ticket.
“I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself. We just quietly got up, made our way to the door and verified our ticket with one of the volunteer in the yellow shirt. Then we made our way to the legion.”
She says it was exciting just to know her ticket was selected.
“I was telling my niece and nephew, I said my god, I won a little over $30,000, that’s a guarantee. I said, the kids are going to be so happy, because we’re splitting everything three ways. $10,000 for each of my kids, and $10,000 for my husband and I. That’s not a bad rainy Friday night event at all!”
When it came time for her to select a card, Spinney says she closed her eyes and tried to place her finger on one of the 19 sprawled out on the table, but missed.
She moved to the other side of the table and did it again, this time placing her finger on the coveted ace, winning over $415,000.
Spinney says it was overwhelming.
“I looked at the bin with all the tickets, and it was so full. I thought, how could it be possible that they picked my number?”
Chase the Ace began on February 5th, and sold over 1.28 million tickets.
Over $641,000 was raised for the West Pubnico Legion.
One of the event organizers Jean-Bernard d’Entremont thanks the dozens of volunteers who contributed.
He says other groups in Pubnico may look at starting another Chase the Ace event in the new year.
