Winner Picked in McHenry VFW Queen Of Hearts Drawing

MCHENRY, IL — After months of searching, the Queen of Hearts has been found. The McHenry VFW Post 4600 held a drawdown Tuesday night with a $7,080,528 prize up for grabs. Lori S. is the winner but, as of 8:30 p.m., not much more was known about her as she was not present at the VFW drawing.

Her ticket was picked from a large tank holding thousands of tickets purchased in the days leading up to the drawdown. Her card selection, number 25, was pulled from a board of three remaining cards to reveal the Queen of Hearts.

The drawdown began at 8 p.m. Tuesday and was broadcast via Facebook live on the McHenry VFW Post #4600 page.

The VFW first began selling tickets for its Queen of Hearts game in April. The first drawing, VFW officials said Tuesday, only about 12 people showed up. This past Tuesday, it was standing-room only in the VFW building along Route 120 in McHenry.

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Tickets purchased were put into a barrel for most of the drawings, except for Tuesday's drawing where a larger tank was needed, and then a VFW volunteer selected one ticket from the barrel. The person who purchased the ticket selected and wrote down a number from numbers still available on the Queen of Hearts board. During the drawing, the card with that number affixed to it would be flipped over to reveal its card.

On Tuesday, VFW officials used an 8-foot-wide stock tank, one which is typically used on farms, to hold the tickets, and Ben Keefe, the VFW official chosen to pick and read off the ticket numbers, used an oar to stir the tickets, the Daily Herald reports.

When the Queen of Hearts was picked on the fourth draw, Keefe simply said, "there she is," as he revealed the card to the cheering crowds packed at the VFW.

Lori S. was not present at the drawing and VFW officials planned to call her with the good news, according to the Daily Herald.

Ticket sales ended at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 18, to give volunteers time to prep for the 8 p.m. drawdown, officials said. Leading up to the drawing, long lines stretched outside the VFW building as volunteers worked countless hours to keep everything running along smoothly.

Tuesday's winner will receive 60 percent of the $7.08 million jackpot (minus taxes). The winners do not need to be present to win.

PHOTO VIA SHUTTERSTOCK