Palos Heights Woman Wins Massive Jackpot In Park Lawn Queen Of Hearts

OAK LAWN, IL — After two years of hunting for the elusive queen, it took all of 20 minutes to find her in the Park Lawn Queen of Hearts Raffle rapid-fire drawdown Wednesday evening at the always-fun At the Office Sports Bar & Grill in Crestwood.

Anxious players were lined up outside ATO at 10:30 a.m. waiting for the bar to open as people raced in to deposit and/or buy tickets for the progressive raffle. A giant drum, affectionately referred to as the “Bozo drum” in homage to the drum used for the Grand Prize Game on the old WGN kids show, unveiled earlier this year was practically filled to the brim with orange tickets.

Throughout the afternoon, players dumped tickets into the Bozo drum, and spent hundreds of dollars in hopes of winning the life-transforming jackpot. A man stood in the corner separating quarters from a bag of change to transform into tickets.

It was business as usual with ATO’s usual activities – afternoon Bingo, karaoke – as patrons waited for the 7 p.m. drawing. A spillover tent was installed outside in the At the Office parking lot.

Players were also invited to sit outside in their vehicles and watch the drawing live on Facebook. If their name was called and the Queen of Hearts was pulled, they had ten minutes to get inside the bar and show they were present to claim the extra 10 percent for a 60-40 split with Park Lawn.

Twenty minutes into the drawing, the queen of hearts was found lurking behind the #17 spot. Jamie Basile, of Palos Heights, was outside in the spillover test when she heard her name called and the queen announced. Basile was shaking when she walked into the bar, a millionaire, or at least until the IRS takes its cut.

“I think I’m in shock right now,” Basile said, who was shaking. “I’m speechless. I can’t believe it.”

Basile, a single mom and teacher from Palos Heights, comes to At the Office quite often, and started playing the Queen of Hearts raffle in May. She played her son’s birthday – lucky 17 – winning an astounding 60 percent of the $2,314,240 jackpot in the rapid-fire drawdown.

She had no immediate plans for how she would spend the money. The sudden windfall still hadn’t sunk in.

“Probably take a nice vacation,” Basile said, who teaches eighth grade science at Southwood Junior High in Country Club Hills. “Other than that …”

Park Lawn’s Queen of Hearts Version 8.0 is coming soon, with the first drawing on Dec. 4 at At the Office Sports Bar and Grill, 4901 Cal-Sag Road, Crestwood. Park Lawn will seed the jackpot with $100,000 – which is about where it was a year ago – and will start the progressive raffle all over again.

Meanwhile, Park Lawn staff and volunteers will be taking a well deserved break after filling out thousands of online tickets manually purchased by players all over the world. Online and in-person ticket sales will start Monday, Nov. 25 for the new 8.0 game.

Buy them online here or in person Park Lawn's Oak Lawn office at 10833 S. LaPorte Ave. or from the handy dandy red ticket machine at the always fun At the Office Sports Bar & Grill, 4901 Cal-Sag Road, Crestwood, where the live drawing takes place at 7 p.m. every Wednesday.

"On behalf of everyone at Park Lawn, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who supported our Queen of Hearts raffle," said Mark Dynia, chief marketing officer for Park Lawn. "Your participation, generosity, and commitment to our cause have made an incredible impact."