When I run chancecoin 2.5 wallet on windows 8, I get an 'Java Exception has occured' error. Is this a known issue?
It is not a known issue. I'll summon TwinWinNerD on this one. I think he has the client running on Windows 8. Perhaps you don't have Java 8 installed? See
http://chancecoin.com/participate for how to install that.
Magician