A lucky Callaway County resident could take home about $225,000 during the Fulton VFW's Ace of Spades fundraiser. The next drawing will be at 7.m. Wednesdaym.
"This is the second game that we've done, and we'll probably do one more after this one," said Steve Harding, president of the 83rd Helpers for the Fulton VFW. "The last jackpot was $48,000."
Harding explained how it works:
At the very beginning of the game, contest organizers at the VFW shuffled up a deck of cards and put them into numbered envelopes.
"We had five guys who had a deck of cards and spread them out on a pool table," Harding said. "We had 54 envelopes, and we put the cards in, sealed them up, shuffled and then numbered them. No one has any idea where the ace of spades is."
When people buy tickets, they write down their contact information and a number corresponding to one of the envelopes on each.
Each week, a ticket is drawn. Someone removes the corresponding envelope from a locked case and looks at the card inside. If the card is an ace of spades, the ticket's purchaser wins the jackpot. If not, the game continues. The jackpot grows with each round, and now stands at $225,000.
After 52 weeks of play, the VFW is down to its last two cards, numbers 37 and 39. Whoever wins the initial round has a 50-50 chance of landing the jackpot - minus a bit that goes to support the VFW.
"If the person is there at the drawing, the VFW get 20 percent," Harding said. "If they're not, the VFW gets 40 percent."
Harding said community excitement is running high.
"It's pretty amazing," he said. "Every place I go, I'm hearing about it. It's much bigger than I ever expected."
Tickets can be purchased at the Fulton VFW for $5 for six.
"The crowd's gotten to be so big that we can't hold everyone at the VFW, so we're running everything out of 54 Country and VFW," Harding said. "You can be at either spot and win."