Catch the Ace — called Chase the Ace in most of Canada and Chasse à l'As in Quebec — is a progressive charity lottery built on a deck of cards. Each week one ticket is drawn, that player wins a weekly prize and opens an envelope, and if the envelope holds the Ace of Spades they win a jackpot that may have been growing for months. Every ticket sold also raises money for the charity running the game.
This guide covers the rules, where your money goes, the real odds, and who can play in each province. Variants such as Catch the King, Queen of Hearts (Dame de Coeur) and Jig the Joker work the same way with a different target card.
Each week's sales are split three ways: the charity, the weekly prize, and the progressive jackpot. The split is fixed in each lottery's licence and rules, and it varies. A common pattern is roughly half to the charity, with the rest divided between the weekly winner and the jackpot. Some lotteries add a starting (seed) jackpot or pay a fixed weekly prize. The charity's share is raised every single week, whether or not the Ace turns up, which is why a long round can fund a hospital wing or a Legion roof.
To see the exact split for a game, open its official rules page. Every listing on Play the Ace links to the organiser's own site or Facebook page.
Two different odds are in play, and it's easy to mix them up:
Worked example: 50,000 tickets are sold this week and you hold 10. Your chance of being drawn is 10 in 50,000 (1 in 5,000). With 10 cards left, the chance your envelope is the Ace is 1 in 10. Your chance of winning the jackpot that week is about 1 in 50,000. A small deck makes the Ace more likely for whoever is drawn; it doesn't make it likely that you'll be drawn.
"Cards left" also tells you the most weeks a game can last. That's why we show it on every listing.
The jackpot only stops growing when the Ace is found, so a lucky deck can run for many months. As the pot grows, news coverage and word of mouth push sales up, and a bigger share flows into the jackpot each week. That's how a small-town fundraiser turns into a seven-figure prize.
As of our last check (Oct 14, 2026), the biggest live pot we track is Loto Dame de Coeur (Quebec) at $5,041,880; recent finishes include Carleton Place Catch the Ace 6.0 ($1,658,417) and Catch the Ace Grimsby ($104,281); La Broquerie Helping Hands Chase the Ace is down to 4 cards. The live numbers are on our full list.
Search for the name your province uses. Organisers rarely use both:
| Province / territory | Usual name |
|---|---|
| Alberta | Chase the Ace |
| Manitoba | Chase the Ace |
| New Brunswick | Chase the Ace |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | Chase the Ace |
| Nova Scotia | Chase the Ace |
| Northwest Territories | Chase the Ace |
| Ontario | Catch the Ace |
| Prince Edward Island | Chase the Ace |
| Quebec | Chasse à l'As |
| Saskatchewan | Chase the Ace |
There's no national Catch the Ace. Each game is a charitable lottery licensed by the province or territory where it's sold:
In practice, that means:
The round ends. The organiser confirms the winner, pays the weekly prize and the jackpot, and usually announces a new series within weeks or months, starting again with a fresh 52-card deck and a small pot. We move finished rounds to "Recently caught" on each province page, and list the new series as soon as the organiser confirms it.
Catch the Ace exists to raise money for local causes, and the odds of any one ticket winning the jackpot are long. Treat tickets as a donation with a chance to win. Set a budget before you buy and don't raise it because a pot is growing. If gambling stops being fun, free, confidential help lines are listed for every province.
Nothing. They're the same game. Ontario operators mostly say Catch the Ace; most other provinces say Chase the Ace, and Quebec says Chasse à l'As. Catch the King, Queen of Hearts and Jig the Joker use a different target card with the same mechanics.
Two odds multiply together: the chance your ticket is drawn (your tickets divided by all tickets sold that week) and, if drawn, the chance your envelope holds the Ace (1 in the number of cards left). With 50,000 tickets sold, 10 tickets held and 10 cards left, that's about 1 in 50,000.
Generally no. Each lottery is licensed in one province or territory and tickets may only be sold to people physically located there. Online sales enforce this with location checks.
The ticket holder who opens the Ace of Spades envelope receives that week's prize and the progressive jackpot, subject to the lottery's claim rules. The game then ends; many charities start a new series afterwards.
It depends on the lottery's licence and rules. A common pattern is about half to the charity, with the rest split between the weekly prize and the jackpot. Check the official rules page for the exact split.
Usually not. Most lotteries draw by random number generator or livestream and contact the winner. Check each lottery's rules.
We are an independent directory and don't sell tickets. Lotteries marked Sponsored have a commercial relationship with Play the Ace, and that's always disclosed.