A Queen of Hearts raffle, which brought million-dollar mania to the McHenry VFW last year with mobs of players and long lines of traffic, has returned with a $1.7 million grand prize and changes to rein in the runaway growth of the game.
Tickets are on sale for Tuesday’s drawing, with new rules to make the game more manageable and save organizers stress, post Cmdr. Dwane Lungren said. Foremost among them is that the post now will take half of the total jackpot — now at $3.4 million — rather than 40 percent as before.
In addition, there is now a $3 million cap on the top prize, and a July 30 deadline to end the game, as required by new city ordinances.
The new limits didn’t bother disc jockey Tommy Hanus of Wonder Lake, who bought $20 worth of tickets Thursday. Hanus, who makes a living playing weddings, parties and veterans events, was glad to have the game back.
“I’m ready to play,” he said. “I’m not a rich man, but I’m trying to be.”
City officials wanted to limit the size of the game to reduce the crowds and traffic jams that swarmed the post last September, when Lori Skoniecke, a park district employee in Schaumburg, won $4 million for drawing the winning card.
The game consists of a deck of cards randomly hidden in numbered envelopes. Players buy raffle tickets and write a number on the back of each one. Each week, a ticket is drawn, the envelope matching the number written on the ticket is opened and the card inside is revealed. If it’s the queen of hearts, the player wins the jackpot. If it’s some other card, the player may win a lesser prize, and the game continues, with the pot rolling over and new ticket purchases driving it higher.
VFW members hope the new rules keep things from getting out of hand this time, and to temper expectations.
“This is not a lottery,” Lungren said. “It’s not going to be forever. It’s to fix our facility and support our programs.”
Tickets will cost $5 each, rather than $1, to reduce the number of tickets sold and the number that players must fill out.
To prevent the 30 or so volunteers and staff members from burning out, sales will be limited to during the day on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. That will free up the post to be rented out for banquets and for members to enjoy the steak and lobster dinners on Saturday nights.
The post also canceled its Sunday bingo games, drawing complaints on the post Facebook page from longtime players. Officials said they’re trying to balance their resources.
“We want our members to enjoy the VFW as well,” Lungren said. “Because of the crowds, members couldn’t enjoy our club.”
The new game will use only 22 cards, each 10 through ace and two jokers, rather than the 54 cards used last time, and won’t start over on the second joker, which ran up the total last time.
To spread the winnings, players will be awarded $5,000 for a 10, $10,000 for a jack, $15,000 for a king, $20,000 for an ace, $25,000 for a queen of clubs spades or diamonds, and $30,000 for a joker.
Forty percent of the pool will fund veterans’ programs and improvements to the facility, while 10% will roll over into the next week’s pot.
Past proceeds helped pay for a new parking lot, a new trailer from which to sell tickets, new sidewalks and landscaping, electrical work and a new kitchen. Lungren said the money also supported local charities and the VFW National Home for Children in Eaton Rapids, Mich., which offers counseling, housing, daycare and other resources for families of active duty military personnel and veterans.
As a small number of ticket buyers shivered in the morning cold Thursday, staff members passed out brochures breaking down the post’s financial windfall from the game.
After taxes, prizes paid out last year and money used to establish the pot for this year, the post took in almost $1.1 million from the game, and spent $900,000 on property improvements, $100,000 on raffle expenses and $75,000 in donations to support veterans, programs and the community.
The success of the McHenry veterans’ raffle has prompted other veterans groups to try running their own games.
Veterans groups in Antioch, Fox Lake, Gurnee, Huntley, Libertyville and Lake in the Hills have started similar raffles, but none has had the jackpots or crowds that McHenry attracted.
Libertyville American Legion Post 329 began its own Queen of Hearts raffle this spring, with drawings every Wednesday, but it only sells tickets two days a week, and its pot is about $1,500, Cmdr. Bruce Matsunaga said.
“Everybody’s jumping on the bandwagon,” he said. “We thought we could ride the coattails of the publicity for McHenry. We’re progressing very slowly.”
Like many veterans groups, what the legion could use even more than money is younger members. The organization has almost 150 members, but only about 15 are really active, and four of them are more than 90 years old.
Matsunaga hopes proceeds from the raffle can be used to establish scholarships for veterans and their children. “That,” he said, “might attract more veterans.”
rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @RobertMcCoppin
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