Split the Pot Lottery is back across Ontario to help hospitals

The Ontario-wide Split the Pot Lottery is back, with officials encouraging people to purchase tickets to help support hospitals and healthcare across the province.

Split the Pot Lottery gives players the chance to win big while contributing to vital healthcare initiatives in their communities, with a total of 62 hospitals taking part.

From Aug. 7 to Sept. 18, the collaborative fundraising event gives players 64 chances to win, with 51 early bird prizes and 13 chances to win a split of the grand prize payout, estimated to grow to $1.2 million.

"We always have a big need here at the hospital," said Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation Executive Director, Cristina Naccarato. "The lottery specifically has helped us fund many needed pieces of equipment through our diagnostic imaging department."

Earlier this week lottery officials announced support for the latest lottery program had achieved exceptional results in just eight days after launching, with ticket sales surpassing $1 million.

Naccarato explained, "Our cardiology department during Covid, it helped us purchase supplies that were much needed for our frontline workers. And, one of the biggest pieces of equipment that we were able to help purchase for the hospital through our lottery programs was a 3D digital mammography machine and we're looking to direct some additional funds to this program to increase capabilities and upgrades for current machines to have this technology."

Proceeds from each ticket sold can either be split among participating hospitals or be directed to a hospital of the players choice.

"These machines are very important, especially given that our breast screening rules are changing in October," said Windsor Regional Hospital diagnostic imaging physician Barakat Ogunde. "We are adding patients between the age of 40 to 49. So we do need a lot of mammograms/mammogram capability."

"These machines are very, very expensive," Ogunde explained. "So definitely relying on fundraising does help."

She continued, "I think the lottery is very important for this department. Obviously our ability to help patients, increase volume, you know, just have the new technology in Windsor so that we don't have to send our patients to larger sites is extremely important."

Ogunde said staff screen upwards of 500 patients per month through the Ontario Breast Screening Program, confident the department will be able to keep up with demand when new screening guidelines come into effect.

"We have added contrast enhanced mammogram to our department. Our first patient was screened last week, and we're very, very excited about this. This is new to Windsor. this, again, offers a new diagnostic capability to offer our patients, especially if they're waiting a long time for MRI. It's a faster method to screen our patients, and we can also biopsy as well through contrast enhanced mammogram. And all of this is possible once again, through the machines and the software that we're adding on to our machines," Ogunde said.

"We've been running a 50/50 at this hospital online for the last five years, so when Split the Pot came to us last year with the biggest collab in Canadian history, we decided to get on board," said Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation Financial and Retail Services Coordinator, Brandon Osborne.

Osborne told CTV News that last year's local proceeds amounted to $60,000.

"The cheapest ticket is $20 and the most expensive is $100 but with that you get 700 tickets at $0.14 per ticket. So it's a great deal."

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting the Split the Pot website or by calling 1-833-804-6262 to place an order over the phone.