Chase the Ace Tignish, P.E.I., jackpot winners were 1st timers

It was a case of beginner's luck for Keaton Noye, who pulled the ace of spades to win the $734,000 Chase the Ace jackpot for himself and 17 co-workers in Tignish, P.E.I., Friday night.

It was the first week the 22-year-old welder from Tyne Valley and his work colleagues had participated in the fundraiser lottery, which had been running since January.

The group had heard the contest would not continue past Dec. 18 and decided they wanted to get involved before it finished.

Noye says at first he couldn't believe his number was drawn, giving him the opportunity to try to pull the ace of spades from the deck.

He said he was "shocked" when he actually drew the winning card.

"It turned out well for all of us. A great Christmas present for everybody at the shop," Noye said.

"To me, a lot of money causes a lot of problems, but if you share it with people, it kind of makes most of it go away."

'Busy, busy, busy'

Noye was the only one from his group on hand for the draw that night.

"It was busy and they didn't want everybody to crowd in there, so we just sent one," he said.

The group estimates each person will receive about $40,000.

The fundraiser for the legion and fire department has been a great gift as well for the small western P.E.I. community of Tignish, bringing in thousands of dollars to local businesses over the past 42 weeks.

"We had a full house and it was busy, busy, busy in there." said Harvey Myers, arena manager.

"Tignish in general, I'm speaking for everybody that's here, they were quite happy that the people were coming."

Myers says it'll take some time to add up just how much money Chase the Ace brought in to the community.

A new round of the lottery starts up in Tignish next Friday.