Joker Slays The Board, Park Lawn Queen of Hearts Rolls Over To $1.7M

OAK LAWN, IL — It’s another do-over for the Park Lawn Queen of Hearts raffle that is on its way to a $1.7 million jackpot. While her Majesty was busy cheering up the Chicago White Sox after their historic 121-loss season, her unfunny third cousin – the joker – showed up in her place wiping the board clean in Wednesday’s drawing. The jackpot stands at $1,625,245 and growing for the Oct. 9 pull.

There hasn’t been a winner in Park Lawn’s Queen of Hearts raffle since October 2022. The seventh edition of the game has now been wiped clean by five jokers.

Park Lawn’s Queen of Hearts has the biggest jackpot on the South Side, and the second biggest in the Chicago region, trailing McHenry VFW Post 4600’s progressive raffle, which rolled over to $1,633,150 in their Tuesday draw.

Naomi D. played the #1 spot, revealing the joker. She still goes home a winner with 24 free tickets for the Oct. 9 drawing at the always fun At The Office Sports Bar & Grill in Crestwood.

Although a ray of sunshine for many of the loyal players who gather every Wednesday at ATO, the tricky Queen of Hearts has been known to emerge the week after the joker has been pulled.
Players also got to see where the queen has been hiding under their unpicked numbers for $20 a throw, since the last time a joker was pulled July 18. Turns out the queen was lurking under the #14 spot all along. The lucky player won themselves a $500 cash prize.

Due to the extremely high volume of players, online ticket sales will now CLOSE at NOON MONDAY for the weekly drawing every Wednesday. Sales of online tickets have already resumed for the next week's drawing.

All tickets must now be in the black box by 6:50 p.m. so they can be poured into the Bozo drum. And for all you conspiracy theorists out there, the Bozo Drum is spun and mixed “9 million times,” which also includes a ceremonial shovel, dryer sheets and Swiffer dusters to keep all the tickets nice and loose inside the drum.

The current progressive raffle continues to set new records for Park Lawn, with the only million dollar-plus QOH jackpot in the south suburbs.

Players can now play multiple numbers in a single online purchase. That number, along with the buyer's name and phone number, will be written down by a Park Lawn representative on all the tickets purchased in that transaction and placed into that week's drawing. Read the terms and conditions. Players must be 18 or over.

Park Lawn Queen of Hearts board for Oct. 9, 2024

Should the Queen of Hearts appear, the winner splits the pot 60-40 with Park Lawn if present; or 50-50 if not present. The person whose ticket is drawn but doesn’t find the queen gets 24 free tickets for the next week’s drawing. Should the ace of spades appear, the winner (must be present to win) will receive free appetizers every week for a year at At the Office. Joker resets the board.

You can watch the drawing live every Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Park Lawn Charity Facebook.
All proceeds benefit Park Lawn’s programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including supported employment, residential, social and home-based services.

“It doesn’t matter if you buy first, middle or last,” said Mark Dynia, chief marketing officer for Park Lawn. “You have a very good chance of having your ticket pulled.”