Show Home Grand Opening This Sunday

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Prince George Spruce Kings Junior A Hockey Club is proud to announce the launch of the 32nd Annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. The Show Home boasts many custom designed features making the home worth $491,225. Alongside the grand prize, there are a number of early bird prizes making the whole lottery worth over $519,000.

The Show Home is located at 2626 Links Drive in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision of Prince George, British Columbia. Built by Scheck Construction, this year’s Show Home has 1702 square feet of living space and a partially finished basement. Modern accents paired with classic finishings bring out the warmth and desirability of the home.

"Brent (Scheck Construction) and his team have done a phenomenal job with this custom designed home," said Spruce Kings Communication Director, Ron Gallo. "This home has some truly technologically advanced features with the Home Alive automation system from Curtis Elite. The Northern Hardware has once again outdone themselves with appliances that will be included and the staging of this house. People will be excited about the prospect of winning of this home."

The Grand Opening of the Show Home is at 11am on Sunday November 24th. Show Home Lottery tickets are on sale now at Pine Centre Mall and Canadian Tire with other venues opening up soon. Tickets are also available for purchase over the phone by calling 250-962-IWIN (4946) or toll free from inside the Province of British Columbia at 1-855-962-IWIN (4946).

Tickets may be sold and purchased only in the Province of British Columbia and ticket purchasers must be 19 years of age or older. Rules of play, ticket locations and additional information can be retrieved from the Spruce Kings office, located in the Prince George Coliseum, or online from the Prince George Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery website.

For more information call the Spruce Kings office at 250.564.1747.

Chances are 1 in 8,500 (total tickets for sale) to win a grand prize  BC Gaming Event Licence #59144

Problem Gambling Help Line: 1-888-795-6111  www.bcresponsiblegambling.ca Know your limit, play within it. 19+

Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery - Winner

The Prince George Spruce Kings would like to congratulate Jennifer and Bruce MacKinnon of Prince George, British Columbia after becoming the grand prize winners in the 29th Annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. On Thursday April 14, 2011, ticket number 1696 was drawn from a total of 8,370 tickets from the draw barrel in front of approximately fifty spectators.

Bruce and Jennifer MacKinnon are all smiles
inside their new home

The winners were notified over the phone, although it took more than one phone call to contact them.

"I was sleeping," said an ecstatic Jennifer MacKinnon. "The phone only rang three times; I looked at the clock wondering who was calling me at 10 after 8. When I looked at the phone I saw it was the Spruce Kings."

A few minutes later the call was placed to the MacKinnon household again and this time the connection was made with Spruce Kings Vice-President, Grant Zimmerman providing the good news.

"Oh you are kidding me!" said Jennifer with the shaky excitement in her voice clearly coming through over the phone. "Bruce, we won the house!"

"You buy tickets every year just hoping that maybe you'll get the phone call," said Bruce MacKinnon after the couple arrived at the house. "I'm so glad I moved to Prince George in 1994 and I’m so glad I've been buying tickets every year. Although we missed out last year because all the tickets were sold old; we had to make sure we had our ticket this year so we got it at the house early on."

The 29th Annual Show Home Lottery officially closes as the most successful Lottery ever for the team with 8,370 tickets purchased.

"This has been a great year," said Spruce Kings President, Darcy Buryn. "A lot of credit has to go to Jim Young and his crew, they did a great job. As a supplement to our other revenues, this (Lottery) allows (the Spruce Kings) to compete in the BCHL and for that we have to thank everyone that purchased a ticket and made this the most successful ever."

For a complete listing of winners, prizes and other details of the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery please visit the Spruce Kings website or contact the Spruce Kings office 250.564.1747 during office hours.

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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Show Home Lottery FAQ

Let me start by passing along my wishes for a safe and Happy New Year to everyone and then let me just acknowledge that it has been awhile since I was last able to post something on this blog. Honestly it wasn't intentional, but rather a direct affect of being heavily involved with the sale of the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery tickets through the months of November and December. It is there that I will begin my blogging in 2010.

The Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery is the team's 28th annual and, being the team's major source of revenues for its hockey operations, is a very important part of the team's success. A successful lottery can generate up to 75% of the team's operating budget and that in turn goes a long way in maintaining a viable hockey team in the British Columbia Hockey League.

This year the Show Home Lottery is offering a very impressive 1 in 7,500 chance at winning the grand prize as well as offering a total of ten early bird prizes. The grand prize is a 1,501 square foot modestly designed rancher style home constructed by Ebb Construction in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision. The subdivision is intertwined with a 73 par championship golf course that has been nominated twice as the BCPGA facility of the year.

Valued at $376,000 including taxes and GST, the grand prize includes seven appliances (washing machine, dryer, fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave and television) and an alarm system from Curtis Elite Security. A number of local businesses have added their special touches to the house including McInnis Lighting, General Paint, Closets Done Right, Furnaceland and Marathon Eavestroughing.

There were a total of ten early bird prizes to be won as well, but that count is down to five and will be down to four after Sunday night's draw for a four pack of adult season tickets to the 2010-11 Spruce Kings season. There other four early birds are a $3,200 RONA gift card, a Las Vegas Get-Away, a Mexican Riveria Cruise and a Disney Family Vacation. The three trips are made possible through Japatedon Travel and Cruises and feature departure from Prince George.

As mentioned a few sentences back, there are only 7,500 tickets in the Show Home Lottery and as of January 1, 2010 the number still available sits at 1,156 and dropping everyday! Since the start of the lottery in late October, the number of tickets being purchased has averaged over 500 per week. Using that number going forward would suggest that the Show Home Lottery will be sold out in less than three weeks.

A sell out would mark the third consecutive year that the Show Home Lottery has sold out and in the shortest period of time ever. Although I spent the better part of the past two months selling the Show Home Lottery tickets from a kiosk in the Pine Centre Mall, that location is now closed but there are a number of other locations available for those seeking the best lottery odds out there.

Lottery tickets are available at the house at 2628 Links Drive between the hours of 11am and 6pm everyday, from the Canadian Tire store from 9am to 5pm and from the Spruce Kings office in the Prince George Coliseum from 10am to 2pm during the weekdays. A more convenient option is to use the 24 hour phone line service and call 250.962.I-WIN (4946) locally or 1.888.962.4946 toll free from anywhere in the Province of British Columbia.

That is one of the rules of the Lottery - tickets can only be purchased in BC and a ticket purchaser must be at least 19 years of age. The BC Lotteries regulates the Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery and watches over the daily operations of the Lottery. Part of the rules require the Spruce Kings to use certain phrases and information in any and all forms of advertising - which this now qualifies as, so ... know your limit, play within it.


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Alumni Relative Claims Latest Prize in Show Home Lottery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRINCE GEORGE, BC – The Prince George Spruce Kings would like to congratulate Melissa Lawrence of Prince George, the winner of the third early bird draw in the 28th Annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery. Ticket number 3713 was purchased at Canadian Tire and was drawn on Sunday night at 8:00pm out of the Show Home Lottery draw barrel at the house in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision.

When notified of that her ticket had been drawn as the early bird prize winner, Melissa was very excited and said she had been a long time follower of the Spruce Kings because her uncle Rick Kooses had played for the team. As the winner of the third early bird prize, Melissa wins a four pack of adult season tickets to the Prince George Spruce Kings 2010-11 British Columbia Hockey League season valued at $716.

The winning ticket was one of the 4,178 in the draw barrel, which is over 55% of the 7,500 tickets available for the annual lottery in support of the community owned Junior ‘A’ Spruce Kings hockey team. The lottery has sold out in both of the previous years and is on pace to do the same again this year.

“It is amazing the support we are getting from all over the province and especially here in Prince George,” said Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery manager, Jim Young. “It is incredible to have over 41 hundred tickets sold at this point of the lottery. We are so grateful to the overwhelming support we are getting.”

Seven early bird prizes remain leading up to the grand prize of a custom built Show Home by Ebb Construction valued at $376,000 on February 14, 2010. The next early bird prize draw will be on Sunday December 13, 2009 for a $2,000 Canadian Tire Gift Card. There is also a 32” HD TV from the Northern Hardware (Dec 20), a $3,200 Rona Gift Card (Jan 17) as well as a three trips from Japatedon Travel & Cruises. The Las Vegas Get-Away will be drawn on January 24, the Mexican Riviera Cruise for two on January 31 and the Disney Family Vacation on February 7. A complete list of early bird prizes and draw dates as well as a winner’s list is available from the Spruce Kings website at www.sprucekings.bc.ca.

Tickets are available at numerous locations around Prince George including Canadian Tire, the kiosk in Pine Centre Mall, Spruceland News, Hart Drugs, Evergreen Pharmacy, the Northern Hardware, the Spruce Kings office in the Prince George Coliseum and the Show Home at 2638 Links Drive in the Aberdeen Glen Subdivision. Tickets can also be purchased from anywhere within the Province of British Columbia through a convenient 24 hour phone service. Call 250.962.I.WIN (4946) or toll free 1.888.962.4946.

For more information, please contact the Spruce Kings office at 250.564.1747.

Show Home Lottery - Early Bird #2

The second early bird prize in the 28th annual Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery was drawn last night at the house on Links Drive in the Abredeen Glen Subdivision. Congratulations to Dean Ross of Prince George with ticket #3118 who won a four pack of Spruce Kings season tickets for the 2010/11 BCHL season.

Following the draw and confirmation of the winning ticket, the ticket was put back into the draw barrel where it will now be eligible for all remaining early bird draws and the grand prize draw. Early bird prizes still remaining include a $2,000 gift card from Canadian Tire, a $3,200 gift card from Rona, a 32 inch HD TV from the Northern Hardware, a Las Vegas Get-Away, a Mexican Riviera Cruise and a Disney Family Vacation all from Japatedon Travel & Cruises. The grand prize of a $376,000 Show Home built by Ebb Construction will be drawn on February 14, 2010.

The Show Home Lottery is nearing 50% sold out with over 3,500 of the 7,500 available tickets having been already purchased. Tickets are available at various retailers around Prince George including the Northern Hardware, Spruceland News, Evergreen Pharmacy, Hart Drug Store, Canadian Tire, the Pine Centre Mall kiosk, the Spruce Kings office and the Show Home at 2638 Links Drive. Tickets can also be purchased anywhere within the province of British Columbia through the Show Home ticket phone line, call 250-962-I-WIN (4946) or toll free 1-888-962-4946 24 hours a day.

Know your limit, play within it. Must be 19 years of age to play.

President's Report - 2008/09

by Darcy Buryn, President, Prince George Spruce Kings Junior A Hockey Club.

On ice, our team finished fifth in the regular season in a very competitive Interior Conference and then went on to an exciting five game first round series loss to the Penticton Vees.

Coming out of the 2007/08 season, I set out the following two overriding principles that we as a board use to guide us in the decisions that we make and the issues that we face:

Make the Prince George Spruce Kings a team of choice for players who want to play in the British Columbia Hockey League.

Develop an organizational culture whereby those players expect of themselves, and feel a responsibility on behalf of the entire organization, to play every shift of every game until there are no games left on the schedule.

We are making progress in this regard, but look forward to the opportunity to continue.

As evidence of the progress we are making in the development of our program, six players on our roster this season received scholarship commitments to NCAA schools to date. I had the opportunity to watch two NCAA games in Denver this past season and the players graduating from our program to that level are in for a exciting phase of their hockey careers.

Also former Spruce Kings goaltender, Brad Thiessen signed a professional contract this season at the conclusion of his third NCAA season and then had the opportunity to travel with the Pittsburgh Penguins on their road to the Stanley Cup, culminating in joining the team for their on-ice celebration and being handed the Cup by Sidney Crosby.

Wes McLeod committed to the University of Alaska-Anchorage, attracted the attention of the NHL's central scouting bureau and we are hoping to hear his name called in this weekend's NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.

We have recently committed to Ed Dempsey and Mike Hawes for the next two seasons to continue their efforts to push our hockey program forward.

We held our second consecutive evaluation camp in April, with players attending from throughout the Province of BC as well as Alberta and Ontario. There were also a number of players that came from California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Alaska and Arizona. Several players from that camp have received invitations to the 2009 main camp in August. Four players from the Spring camp have also accepted cards to join our roster for the 2009/10 season.

The 2009 Show Home lottery brought us the second consecutive sell-out of available tickets. Despite the revenue generated from the sell-out, we continue to be challenged by the rising construction and land development costs. Also, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation has informed us that they are going to run a house lottery of their own. They tried to get it together for the Spring of 2009, but were not successful and will try again in Spring 2010.

The dates of the 2010 Spruce Kings Show Home Lottery period will commence again in October with the draw to be held again on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2010. We have also decided to increase the tickets to be sold in the coming Lottery to 7,499.

I would like to commend the efforts of Jim Young and his sales staff, including my dad Wally, who is celebrating his 70th birthday tonight, in leading us to a sell-out of tickets.

As the governor of the team, I have attended several league meetings and conference calls. I have given up my role as the Chair of the Education Committee for the League to focus on the League financial and budgeting process, working closely with David Sales, executive director of the BCHL.

Darcy Buryn.