Chase the Ace: How the game works

'Chase the Ace' participants gather in Inverness, N.S. for their chance to win the jackpot.

The wildly popular "Chase the Ace" fundraiser, which is attracting huge crowds to a Nova Scotia town, is part 50-50 draw and part luck of the cards.

The premise of the fundraiser is simple.

Participants buy five-dollar tickets and are entered in a draw. Organizers select one ticket from the pool, and the winner automatically gets 20 per cent of the money that's been raised. Meanwhile, 50 per cent of the money goes to charity, and the remaining 30 per cent is added to the building jackpot.

In addition to winning 20 per cent of the money, the winning-ticket holder is invited to draw a card from a standard 52-card deck. If they draw the ace of spades, they win the jackpot.

So far, this year's contest has gone on for 46 weeks, meaning there are only six cards left. That means, whoever wins the next ticket draw will have a one in six chance of taking home the top prize.

And at this stage, organizers say the jackpot is likely to reach one million dollars for the next draw.

The contest has also been a huge win for the local community in Inverness, N.S.

Fifty per cent of the fundraiser's money is going towards the Royal Canadian Legion and the Inverness Cottage Workshop, a non-profit that serves people with disabilities.

And despite security concerns and logistical complications, the sudden crowds have helped boost local businesses and raised the town's profile so much that people from all over Atlantic Canada are travelling to Inverness, hoping they'll be the lucky winner who gets the jackpot ace.