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Legal questions linger as Barry Dyngles starts new Queen of Hearts
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
As the Queen of Hearts game resumes at Barry Dyngles, questions remain about the game’s legality.
After Molly Blair of Warren won $1.8 million in the last drawing at the 1601 S. Raccoon Road pub, there was talk that an audit would be done.
When reached for comment Wednesday, the Ohio Auditor’s Office and the Ohio Inspector General’s Office said they did not perform an audit after the game.
That audit would have verified that the money from every ticket sold was a part of the 100 percent payout Blair received.
“Our office does not have jurisdiction to be involved with any sort of investigation in connection with that activity, so we have not conducted any audit,” said Carl Enslen, Ohio deputy inspector general.
“If we had, we couldn’t disclose that – it’s taxpayer confidentiality,” said Gary Gudmunson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation.
Officials from the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office also said they did not perform an audit.
Pub general manager Doug Duganne said ticket sales began at 11 a.m. Wednesday for the new game, and he said no state agencies performed an audit after the previous game. He also said the pub would be open to an audit if asked.
But Duganne said of an audit: “There’s no reason. The game’s 100 percent legal. It’s 100 percent above board. There’s been no complaints, no issues,” he said.
Sen. Bill Coley of Liberty Township in Butler County, R-4th, said he believed an audit would fall under the umbrella of the Ohio Department of Taxation.
“If [Barry Dyngles] didn’t handle it correctly, then it almost automatically becomes a violation under the gaming laws,” he said.
“I guess there would be a little bit of a concern if there wasn’t an outside audit,” said township Police Chief Robert Gavalier.
He further said he was surprised an audit wasn’t done in light of the size of the jackpot.
Coley is chairman of the Government Oversight and Reform Senate Committee and will discuss the game again at its next meeting, including concerns brought up about an audit of the last draw. That committee will have a report on the game at the end of the year.
Coley said of possible legislation: “We don’t want to in any way impinge businesses that do proper promotion, but we also want to make sure they follow” the law.
That committee is “making sure that there is proper safeguards in place to make sure that no one is taking improper funding and no one is improperly securing funds outside the realms of the law,” Coley said.
NEW GAME
The game is returning with a new set of rules, again.
This marks the third time the rules have been altered by the pub. Previous changes included moving the drawing date and changing the payout percentage.
The pub will have its first drawing at 8 p.m. Oct. 28, a news release said.
Ticket prices have been altered and will escalate as the jackpot grows.
Ticket prices are as follows:
$1 for jackpots from $0 to $50,000.
$2 for jackpots from $50,001 to $100,000.
$5 for jackpots from $100,001 to $200,000.
$10 for jackpots from $200,001 to $400,000.
$20 for jackpots from $400,001 and up.
The pub has gone back to requiring the winner to be present to win 100 percent of the jackpot, so that means if the winner is not present, he or she would win 50 percent of the jackpot.
State officials previously had wondered if that was legal. The pub has defended the “house rule” as a way to have people at their business on drawing nights. The other 50 percent would be paid out through drawings until the jackpot was fulfilled, the news release said.
Another change for the game is two new payouts. The Queen of Hearts is the full jackpot, the other three queens are 10 percent and the two jokers are 20 percent, just like the first game.
The ace of hearts now will pay out 50 percent of the jackpot, and just having your name drawn and pulling a spot will get that person 5 percent of the jackpot, but that 5 percent is paid out only if a higher jackpot is not found.
The pub’s news release said the business “reserves the right to change any of the rules after any drawing but prior to selling tickets for the next drawing.”
To play, patrons need to purchase tickets and write their name, what spot the queen of hearts is hiding underneath on the board and a phone number to be reached at by the pub.
Trustee Jim Davis said the change in ticket prices could act as a deterrent for people who may not want to spend that much money to play.
“What they’re doing in essence is to reduce the number of people that will play and increase your chance of winning,” Davis said. “There will be less tickets in the barrel, and there will be probably less people buying tickets.”
“Everyone is doing this [Queen of Hearts] game now, and we thought we would try and be different and change up the rules a little bit, and it creates buzz,” Duganne said of the rule changes with more payouts and ticket prices.
He added, “And obviously, some of the rules we put into place are for crowd-control issues, too.”
He also emphasized the ticket prices have not affected the odds of the game, and that it simply allows the jackpot to grow with fewer tickets to cycle through to pull a ticket.