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Eldred Legion Packs Town With Thousands Hoping To Win Huge Queen Of Hearts Pot
ELDRED - The excitement for the Queen of Hearts game in Eldred, IL has been a thrust to lead the small community and its American Legion Post 1135 to prosperity.
People as far away from Chicago have been attending the drawings each Tuesday night as the pot continues to swell.
The next Queen of Hearts set for Aug. 7 is speculated that it may top $400,000. The Queen of Hearts game is literally putting tiny Illinois town of Eldred on the map for many people who have never been to the community.
The Eldred Legion Queen of Hearts is a game where players buy raffle tickets for a weekly drawing. Raffle organizers hang a bulletin board with playing cards randomly placed in rows, face down. Each card gets labeled with a number. Players buy raffle tickets at $1 each, write their name and a number of a card that has not been picked on their raffle ticket and drop it in a large rotating barrel.
When a ticket is pulled out of the barrel, the card number written on it is removed and turned over to find out what card it is. If the card selected is the Queen of Hearts, and the player is on the premises, the player wins the entire pot. If the player is not there but they selected the winning card, they only receive half of the pot.
If any card other than the Queen of Hearts is selected, it will pay a lesser amount and the remainder of the pot rolls over to the next drawing using the remaining cards of the deck. All of the non winning tickets are thrown away and a player must buy new tickets to participate in the subsequent drawing. There is also 50/50 drawing after the initial draw and several other tickets are also selected from the barrel for lesser prizes. In order to win the entire amounts offered in these drawings, the player must be on the premises.
The game has grown so large that the Legion has obtained permission from the State of Illinois to allow an expanded location that includes other area business to accommodate the huge crowd that overtakes the small community. Cars line each side of the road for a mile entering the town.
Eldred Mayor Jim Darr and Michelle Darr, his wife, said the Queen of Hearts game has been a lifesaver for the community and the Legion. “It is big money for businesses in town and the Legion,” he said. “Everything has gone smooth so far and the results have been great. We haven’t had any problems at all.” Darr said Eldred will use the funds from the game to work on parks for the kids and sidewalks. “We are a good little quiet town and look at all these folks having a good time,” the couple said. “It is peaceful here. It is good for the Legion and a benefit to Eldred. The Legion is making a lot of money and making changes.”
Eldred American Legion Post Commander Jon Baker said he discovered the idea after visiting a Queen of Hearts game that was held in Caseyville. “The first place I went was Caseyville and they had $440,000 with their drawing,” he said. “They had eight or 10 tables selling tickets at the bar during the day and evening.” Beer sales have been strong at the Queen of Hearts event, with Baker saying an estimated 6,000 cans were sold the previous Tuesday.
Shannon Dunham is originally from Eldred. She is now a practicing attorney in St. Louis and specializes in business and corporate law.
“I have been down here every week since it went over $100,000,” Dunham said. “I am originally from Eldred. The Queen of Hearts draws back everyone and people from all over.”