Camera courtesy of Voth's Countrywide Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1

They're the hottest tickets in town.

Jackpots for the 50/50 draws at the Ford World Women's Curling Championships in Swift Current have been in the thousands for every draw so far, and they are growing as the event goes on.

They're being done through a new system, which was purchased by the Swift Current Curling Club and the Swift Current Broncos.  Real-time totals are shown on several screens throughout the arena, and players receive just one ticket with their numbers.  The other ticket is printed remotely into a drum, where the winning number will be drawn by hand.

 

Linda Wilson, fundraiser for the Swift Current Curling Club, says they wanted to go with the original paper-ticket route, but $7000 of paper in the garbage didn't work.  They approached Jordan Wall with the Broncos, and they worked together to get the new system quickly and install it in time for the World's.

 

The new system is very similar to the 50/50 system that was used at January's World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon.

 

Wilson adds that the new system will remain at the Credit Union iplex, and they will be rented out to groups using the facility, with the 50/50 proceeds being shared by the Curling Club and the Broncos.  You can check winning numbers at the rink, or on sccurlingclub.ca.