Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Do You Have Your Ticket?

Yeah I know it isn't a flashy title (not that I've ever been guilty of that anyways), but it really is all that matters as the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery starts to wind down ... or wind up. After spending so much time with the Show Home Lottery over the months of Novemeber and Decemeber, today was my first real chance to check in on it again. All I can say is wow!

This year there were a total of 7,500 tickets printed for the Show Home Lottery and they went on sale in the middle of October. I remember promoting when it was 20% and 25% and 30% and 40% sold out; then it was how many tickets were left to be purchased. Well that particular number is now under 700 ... that's right, less than 700 tickets are available for purchase as over 6,800 have already been claimed.

Now Prince George is well known for being a last minute city and I'm not positive, but this sure feels like it is getting down to the last ticks of the clock. Looking back over some of my tweets and posts, I have done a rough calculation that the Lottery has been averaging somewhere close to 500 tickets a week. Well another quick calcuation has to suggest that the available tickets could all be gone in less than two weeks.

If you are sitting on the fence or wondering if you should wait just a little bit longer ... let me throw this out to you. Every Sunday for the next five Sundays there will be a draw made in the Show Home Lottery. There are four remaining early bird prizes and then the grand prize of the Show Home itself. The four early bird prizes have a combined total value of $16,412; add in the value of the house ($376,000) and the prize jackpot sits at almost four hundred thousand dollars still to be won.

On Sunday January 17th, the early bird draw is for a $3200 gift card from RONA and the next three Sundays all feature trips from Japatedon Travel & Cruises in Prince George. Sunday January 24th is the Las Vegas Get-Away valued at $2723, January 31st is the the Mexican Riveria Cruise valued at $4696 and February 7th is the Disney Family Vacation valued at $5793.

Those are great prizes in themselves and they all lead up to the grand prize draw on Sunday February 14th of the custom built 1501 square foot home located in the Aberdeen Glen Golf Course subdivision. The house is a modest three bedroom rancher with an inviting warm and friendly feel to it with its open design. It has some rich, deep, dark, yet soft earthy colours and textures. As a rancher, it doesn't have an upstairs but it does have a full basement that is semi-finished waiting for the owner(s) to add their design touches to it.

It is true that six previous early bird prizes have already been awarded, but a chance to get in on the remaining prizes is not something that should be missed out on. The odds of winning the Spruce Kings Show Home are nothing short of exceptional with every ticket having a 1 in 7500 chance of winning the grand prize. Those odds are of course based on a sellout - which I fully expect - the only question is when will it be sold out.

If you are looking for Show Home Lottery tickets, there are a few retailers that can sell them to you such as Spruceland News, the Northern, Evergreen Pharmacy, Hart Drugs and the customer service kiosk in the Pine Centre Mall. Tickets can also be purchased from the Spruce Kings office located in the Prince George Coliseum, the Show Home at 2638 Links Drive and Canadian Tire. All of those locations are only good if you can get there during business hours; but there is a 24 hour option as well. The Show Home Lottery phone line is 250-962-I-WIN (4946) for callers from inside the Prince George area or 1.888,962.4946 from anywhere inside the Province of British Columbia.

The Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery is into it's 28th year and it has been around long enough that it has actually helped to fine tune rules surrounding these types of lotteries for other charitable organizations. I recently was given clarification that the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery is licensed, monitored, and regulated by the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch of the Province of British Columbia who also regulate and monitor BCLC.

BC Gaming Event Licence #18865 ... know your limit, play within it ... must be 19+ to play.


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