MANITOULIN—A Manitoulin resident became the first person on the Island to win a prize in the ‘Split the Pot’ lottery game since the Manitoulin Health Centre (MHC) collaborated with many other hospital partners in the province to join in on the game.
“We had our very first local Split the Pot winner,” stated Paula Fields, president and chief executive officer of MHC in an email to The Expositor. “Congratulations to Seija Deschenes for her early bird win in the lottery. Thank you, Seija, for supporting Manitoulin Health Centre through the Split the Pot lottery.”
“I am a winner,” stated Ms. Deschenes, last week. “I went to the hospital last week to get a photo taken with the cheque,” she said, indicating, “I won $1,000 in the early bird draw, held on September 12.”
“I was surprised when I was informed I had won,” said Ms. Deschenes. “I was at work and got a call on my cellphone from a Jacqueline from London, Ontario, and I thought it might be a scam. But I have a niece, Jenna, who is going to school in London so I thought I had better answer. Jacqueline is with the Split the Pot lottery.”
“I yelled ‘Oh my God,’ when I was told I had won,” said Ms. Deschenes. “It is very exciting,” she said indicating that on the form of which hospital she wanted to support she listed MHC.
Ms. Fields said she will be sharing some of her winnings with family members.
As was reported in August in The Expositor, MHC has collaborated with over 60 hospital partners across the province on the “Split the Pot” lottery game.
Ms. Fields told The Expositor previously, “MHC is very excited to collaborate with our partner community hospitals as part of the Split the Pot lottery. We are a two-site rural hospital that provides a spectrum of health care services to the residents of the Manitoulin region and a large tourist population. Split the Pot Lottery allows us to share, while also ensuring that MHC has state-of-the-art and lifesaving equipment so that our community can stay healthy and safe and continue to receive quality care. It will further enable us to continue to expand the services that we provide, keeping care close to home.”
Eric Theriault, MHC vice-president of corporate support services and chief financial officer, spearheaded this initiative for MHC to be a partner in this endeavour.
“There are over 60 hospitals and partners uniting in this lottery,” said Mr. Theriault. “It’s a way some hospitals get into the big prizes.”
The guaranteed prize in the previous draw was $500,000 with the estimated payout for the next draw (already held) expected to be over $1 million. Mr. Theriault explained it is not like a 50/50 draw—the structure is 50 percent is won by multiple winners. One winner of the grand total receives 60 percent of the pot, two ticket purchasers split 10 percent of the pot and ten people split 20 percent of the jackpot. And there is a whole slew of other winners like the early bird ticket draws.
With the Split the Pot lottery, there are four campaigns held each year, said Mr. Theriault. Three draws have already taken place this year, and the next campaign will run from October 16 to November 28.
Mr. Theriault had further explained when someone buys a ticket, they can select the participating hospital of their choice to benefit from revenues or can select all participating hospitals when they enter the lottery.
“With Split the Pot, when a person purchases a ticket and fills in a form, there is a drop-down area on the form for them to indicate which hospital they want to support, with all the revenues going to that hospital. So, if someone wants to support the MHC they can indicate this on the form, and revenues will come to MHC,” he said. He noted as well there are several ticket purchase options available.
Mr. Theriault also said previously that being part of ‘Split the Pot’ is going to help the MHC. Anything that can help support capital project costs (which are not funded by the province) is going to be beneficial.
The next round of “Split the Pot” is starting on October 16.
cutline: Manitoulin resident Seija Deschenes, right, is the first Island resident to win a cash prize in the ‘Split the Pot’ lottery game. Ms. Deschenes won an early bird draw cash prize of $1,000. On the left is Paula Fields, president and chief executive officer of Manitoulin Health Centre.
