The jackpot for a raffle at a suburban VFW has just topped $1 million.
The McHenry VFW Post 4600 posted on Facebook Monday that the jackpot for Tuesday’s drawing sits at $1,046,554.
Hundreds are expected to attend the weekly 8 p.m. drawing in the suburb about 60 miles northwest of Chicago. In less than 24 hours, the latest Facebook post from the group was shared 1,278 times.
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The Queen of Hearts raffle begins with 54 cards placed randomly and sealed onto a board. When someone purchases a ticket, they also choose the number of a card in the deck. Should their ticket be chosen, the card they chose is then flipped. If that card is the Queen of Hearts, the ticketholder receives a portion of the pot. In the McHenry case, the winner would receive 60 percent, while 20 percent would go to the VFW and 20 percent would be used to start the next raffle.
McHenry VFW Post 4600 said it hopes to use the money from the raffle to make improvements to its building.
It remains unclear if the post will run into problems should the pot continue to grow. Other small towns with large Queen of Hearts jackpots have previously run into trouble.
Local
An American Legion in Steelville, a southern Illinois town, had to put their Queen of Hearts raffle on hold to set up a licensing agreement with the town’s mayor.
According to the Chicago Tribune, another raffle in Morris, Ill. that exceeded $1 million in bets was forced to shut down last year to get a license. Their latest jackpot was up to $601,612 as of Tuesday, according to the group.
Still, the McHenry post noted that it is not concerned with the current jackpot as city ordinance limits the payout for such a raffle to $1 million.
