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It took four heartbreaking draws, but someone won millions on Tuesday night in the draw for McHenry's VHF Queen of Hearts.
The lowering of the huge Queen of Hearts game caused more and more loud cheers, gasps and applause from the large crowd in the lobby of the VFW. This person – someone identified only as Lori S. – now has 24 hours to claim the prize.
After falling for nearly two years, the pot exceeded $ 7 million, the winner getting 60%, about $ 4.2 million before taxes.
The organizers, a bit overwhelmed by the skyrocketing of ticket buyers as the pot went up in ball, had decided to end the match Tuesday night, which meant that they would continue to shoot until that that there is a winner.
The station sold more than 2 million tickets last week for Tuesday's draw, about double the previous week, said Dwane Lungren, McHenry Veterans of Foreign Wars Station Commander.
Shortly after the draw, Mr. Lungren stated that he spoke on the phone over the phone with the winner. He said that she lives in Illinois and prefers to remain anonymous.
"After telling him, there was a deathly silence on the other side. She needed to catch her breath. She was totally flabbergasted. She had no idea, "he said. "It was great, to be honest with you because it was our first millionaire winner. So it was good to give it to someone who was really happy to have it.
He said that he had advised her to contact an accountant and a lawyer and to re-contact the VFW on Wednesday to arrange the payment.
The VFW workers celebrated the end of the game by entering the draw room and throwing the tickets in the air. The crowd quickly cleared, but the volunteers remained to clean themselves up and congratulate themselves on surviving the match.
The atmosphere was festive among the crowd at the post as the drawing hour approached, with hundreds of people crammed into the banquet hall and hundreds of others outside, filling in raffle tickets, eating, drinking and joking. The food and beer trucks had long lines, and the Batmobile, from the Volo Automobile Museum, drew the spectators outside.
Lungren said that there were no problems on Tuesday. There was one incident throughout the match, which occurred last week when someone received a ticket for leaving a dog in a car.
Michele DuBois, of McHenry, was dressed like the queen of hearts. Her introductory line to visitors who took pictures with her was: "Do you feel lucky?"
She said her mother won the first Queen of Hearts draw for $ 32,000. And she volunteers for Gigi's Playhouse, which VFW supports.
"It was a local community affair, and it's still for us," she said.
Harvard's Cindy Nolan said she arrived at the station on Tuesday at 11 am to buy tickets in the rain, then left for shopping but came back to share the excitement.
She said she knows people who have pooled their money to buy nearly $ 2,000 worth of notes.
"It was fun," she said. "I like how the crowd is in it."
A new aspect of the game on Tuesday was a giant trough to house the tickets, rather than the rotating post used previously. Some players had felt on Facebook that the drum did not mix the tickets correctly. The trough was needed to manage the ticket volume.
The post retains 20% of the jackpot for its own operations and renovations, and the rest comes at the beginning of the next game, which was postponed to January 8 to give a break to the outfit.
Given the size of the roll, the next match will also start with a big pot. About $ 2 million in sales this week will be transferred, plus 20% of the pot.
The jackpot and interest in the draw have been steadily increasing since the start of the game in November 2016. The jackpot has overshadowed the more typical prizes of a non-profit draw game, which could normally rise to a few thousand dollars. And the town of McHenry had to change local ordinances to reflect the size of the prize money. Last year, another VFW in Morris, Illinois, south of Joliet, had a draw with a pot that exceeded one million dollars.
This game was temporarily interrupted when an anti-gambling activist complained of not having a proper license.
To cope with the crowds and the media, veterans of Foreign Wars Post, at 3002 W. Illinois Route 120, used four outdoor parking lots and about 50 volunteers, 30 staff members and up to 10 police officers.
Lungren said he worked 10 to 12 hours a day to keep pace, but was not really sick of madness.
"I'm always positive," he said. "I have my head up. This is a good thing. I'll be just relieved when it's over. I'm going to sleep and spend time with my wife.
Deputy commander Ben Keefe said the goal was to "raise a few dollars and fix some things". I think we can solve some problems with $ 2 million. "
In addition to supporting veterans' charities, members hope to start a new car park and outdoor café this year, and improve the kitchen.
"I'm glad we can move forward and back in our lives," said Keefe. "The city needs a break. Volunteers need a break.
Twitter @RobertMcCoppin
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