Thousands of Manitobans are doing their utmost to collect as many tickets as possible ahead of the Kinsmen Jackpot Bingo on Saturday — but some are going to extreme lengths to do so, the service organization says.
Nov 28, 2020 KINSMEN TV BINGO TICKETS. There for sale somewhere as there playing next week again. Reply Quote Report. Devils hockey Joined: Jan 2013 Posts.
It is the highest jackpot ever for the weekly televised bingo game, at more than $640,000.
'Never in my almost three decades of hosting this show have I ever seen a city and an entire province go this bingo crazy,' host Kathy Kennedy told the CBC's Carol Off on As It Happens Wednesday.
Part of the problem is that the club can't print more tickets very easily, she said. They are printed in the U.S. and shipped to Manitoba.
The Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg, which runs the event, said in a social media post Tuesday that some especially bingo-crazed people were seen chasing the group's courier to get their hands on the scarce bingo cards.
'We have hordes of people driving dangerously FOLLOWING our courier driver like paparazzi and putting him in danger.… We will continue deliveries secretly at a later time,' it said.
The Kinsmen Club donates profits of the bingo game to various charities and organizations in Winnipeg and Manitoba.
The weekly game — which airs every Saturday — is selling a record number of cards due to the massive jackpot.
On average, the club sells between 6,000 and 8,000 cards per week, but now it's up to about 50,000.
Deb Mukherjee, owner of Bergie's convenience store in Beausejour, said his customers are calling after hours to see if he has any tickets.
'We are in bed and then you get a phone call at 3 and 4 and 5 and you wake up quickly. This kind of problem, you know, you get kind of stressed out,' he said.
Those who come in person want more tickets than he can provide.
'People came, 'Oh, I want 10 tickets, why aren't you selling me 10, 20, 30?' I said, 'Well, we do not have. We only got 100 tickets, that's all. We do not have much tickets.' That was a big problem,' Mukherjee said.
The Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg added in its social media post that players are calling the office to harass staff over cards.
If you are going to call our office and yell and swear at our staff accusing us of hoarding cards and playing favourites, I'm not going to share information anymore.- Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg social media post
'If you are going to call our office and yell and swear at our staff, accusing us of hoarding cards and playing favourites, I'm not going to share information anymore,' the Facebook post said.
Kennedy said says she's excited about Saturday and to 'end the madness.'
'Everybody relax and remember, this is a game for charity and raising incredible funds for charity,' she said.
'It's bingo everybody. It's just bingo.'
The Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg is committed to helping Manitoba groups and organization affected by COVID-19, either directly or indirectly. We understand many fundraising efforts have been severely afffected by COVID-19 closures worldwide, yet continue to provide services to the community despite closures.
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