Eldred Legion Queen Of Hearts Game Pays Out Over $400,000 to Winner

ELDRED - The lucky winners of the Eldred American Legion Queen of Hearts drawing were announced Tuesday night and the prize went to Jeff and Amy Quigg of Murrayville. The couple netted an incredible $416,000 when the Queen of Hearts card was pulled.

“I had no idea what we won, but I heard Jeff’s name and came up and to where they were collecting tickets,” Amy Quigg said. “Do we really have $400,000.” Jeff Quigg said this is the first time the couple had played the Queen of Hearts game and they came down with friends. “We bought 20 tickets,” he said.

Amy Quigg said she and her husband will “invest, invest, invest” with the money. “We have five kids and one is getting a doctorate and the other is in college and we have three in private school,” she said. “I would guess it will help pay a lot of tuition.”

One woman said she purchased 15 tickets and she was dreaming of using it for retirement, but she was not the lucky winner. “I am from Jacksonville and there are probably a half dozen people I know who came down to play,” she said. “More power to the winners.”

Eldred American Legion Commander Jon Baker said the night and the series of drawings went about as good as they could.
He said not only did the one overall winner receive about $416,000, but there were also payouts of $47,000, $2,500, $1,000 and $500. He also mentioned the 50-50 winner Frank Ingram walked away with $8,016. Brittany Juhl, a local person, was one of the lucky winners.

Baker said the businesses, police and towns people of Eldred were fantastic through the entire process. He also said they couldn’t have made it through the 40 weeks without strong efforts of the Legion members and the reliable volunteers. The Eldred Legion earned several thousand dollars in the process, which will enable it to make needed repairs to its facility and also invest in their civic projects. “I couldn’t have predicted any better,” Baker said. “I certainly never thought the Queen of Hearts would go 40 weeks, though.”