Drawing card for clubs, bars

By Amy L. Knapp GateHouse Media Ohio

MASSILLON — The $5 investment Fred Wahl made this week paid off when his ticket was selected from hundreds of others during the weekly Queen of Hearts drawing at the Massillon Eagles Club.

The queen wasn't behind number 45, Wahl's selection, but rather the six of diamonds. The pick still netted him $200.

The city man has been playing the Queen of Hearts game each week since the club introduced it several years ago, but this was the first time his named was picked.

The game of chance has helped to draw folks in to private clubs and bars for many years. More recently though, it has been gaining popularity.

Kevin McHenry, vice president of Nannicola Incorporated in Youngstown, a supplier of charitable gaming and fundraising products, said the jackpot game has been around for decades and is popular in not only Ohio but West Virginia, Kentucky and New York.

There are similar games under different names across the country, such as Treasure Hunt and Ace of Spades, he said.

While the rules may vary, the general idea of the game is based on 54 cards — the 52 cards in a standard playing deck plus two jokers. Each card is face down on a board and assigned a number of 1 through 54. Participants purchase tickets to enter the drawing. Each ticket contains the person's name and the number of one of the unrevealed cards. During the drawing, one ticket is selected and the card corresponding to the number picked by the person is flipped over to reveal if the person is a winner. Payouts can be made for various cards with the queen of hearts drawing the grand prize.

A Cleveland bar — the Grayton Road Tavern — ran a Queen of Hearts game board 50 weeks before someone picked the right card.

It was a frenzy that played out on television. Cleveland news stations reported live from the bar for weeks until, with only four cards left, the Queen of Hearts was revealed, snaring the winner more than $5.5 million — before taxes.

Big draw

At the Massillon Eagles, one drawing grew to more than $330,000, Trustee Steve Yablonski said. After taxes, the winner walked away with $227,000.

During the most recent drawing at the Eagles, the pot was nearly $12,000. Local club rules allow the person who finds the queen of hearts to collect 90 percent of the winnings, with 10 percent being rolled over to start the next game.

Across Stark County, a number of establishments host the game, which the Ohio Attorney General's Office dubs a marketing promotion.

The game is not regulated by the state, said Dan Tierney, spokesperson for Attorney General Mike DeWine's office.

"It's a draw to get individuals to go to a restaurant or bar," he explained. "It's meant to draw foot traffic."

He likened the game to a similar promotion McDonald's hosts annually with its Monopoly game, meant to entice customers to come in and buy a meal or grab a drink and have a chance to win something.

In order for the game to remain a "pull not conducted for profit," the house can not take a cut of the jackpot and all money collected must be paid out to the winner, Tierney said. Any violation of that could result in a gaming law violation, which would be investigated by local police.

He said those running a Queen of Hearts game should clearly describe in writing the rules of the game.

The Attorney General's office has not received complaints about the Queen of Hearts game or the businesses conducting the game, Tierney said.

He credits that to the game operators following the rules as well as not using the game as subterfuge.

Legislators have not targeted the game but have the right to consider legislation as they have with other games, such as skill games, Tierney explained.

Yablonski said the Massillon Eagles started playing the game after seeing how well it was working at other Eagles clubs across the area, including the McKinley Eagles in Perry Township.

When the winning pot goes up, so does the number of members coming in to the club.

"We want them to come in and not only play the game but eat and drink," Yablonski said. "Also, we are trying to entice new members and it's working."

Last year, the Massillon club ranked sixth out of 1,500 organizations across the country in new members.

"It brings people in," he said. "For a $24 a year membership and $1 for a 22-ounce beer you can't beat it. And you might win some money."

'Community gathering'

The club also offers a 50/50 drawing on Wednesday nights. This week, the lucky winner won $880. The other half of the money raised helps to pay for maintenance to the building, Yablonski said.

At Miller-Doan Tavern in Canal Fulton, the Queen of Hearts game was started last summer.

"It's been good for us," bartender Kelsey Morgan said. "We had a winner of around $39,000. It's really popular and other places in town are doing it. People are coming in and it is giving them something to do. It's just a great community gathering."

The bar holds its drawings at 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Tickets are on sale from 7 to 8:20 a.m.

Abi Conkle, bar manager, said the game has brought new customers in to the bar, which opened in 2015.

"We see a lot of people come back and we have a group of regulars that it doesn't matter if we are just starting a pot or got thousands and thousands," she said.

Kathy Hutto and a group of her friends have been long-time members of the Eagles and have seen the explosion of people coming in for the Queen of Hearts game.

She spends about $20 to $30 a week on tickets for the weekly drawing. Though she hasn't been lucky enough to share in the winnings, she remains hopeful her named will eventually be pulled.

McHenry said there are a number of reasons why the game seems to be more popular now but credits his company's push to manufacture a secure game board to provide to its customers as the main reason for the jump.

"We looked at the game with our expertise with manufacturing and really wanted to make a board that had a lot of integrity," he explained. "We don't know where the queen is."

The playing cards are secured to the game board with a thick lamination requiring the card to be cut from the board, McHenry explained.

"People are never going to question if a friend of a friend will be the person who finds the queen," he said. "There is a trust (in the product)."

Previously, the business catered to mostly private clubs. Now, more and more bars and even gas stations are seeking the Queen of Hearts game.

Amy L. Knapp is a reporter at The Independent in Massillon

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