43
As Queen of Hearts' jackpot grows at Barry Dyngles, questions are raised
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
As tickets continue to sell for the Sept. 16 drawing of the elusive Queen of Hearts game of chance at Barry Dyngles, the wildly popular event has caught more attention from local and state officials.
The Austintown pub on Raccoon Road has become a regional attraction, amassing crowds on Wednesdays estimated at up to 6,000 because of its ever-growing jackpot. The jackpot is expected to top $700,000 by Sept. 16 for the 54-card game of chance that has gone on for almost a year.
Just nine cards remain for the pool game in which people buy $1 tickets for a chance at the card board. If a ticket holder wins the one weekly chance at the board – and draws the Queen of Hearts, he or she wins the pot. If the ticket holder pulls another card, the game continues and more tickets are purchased for the next drawing.
While the game is legal and has an oversight structure just as other legal gaming options in Ohio, the accumulation of funds for this Dyngles event is somewhat unprecedented.
“The Legislature should address this issue, particularly where an establishment has a liquor license,” said Paul Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor. “I don’t believe that this is necessarily illegal based upon the [Ohio] attorney general’s opinion, although I think it ought to be addressed.”
He continued: “Maybe liquor-permit holders should not be permitted to engage in this type of activity, even though it appears to be a great marketing technique.”
State Sen. Bill Coley of Liberty Township in Butler County, R-4th, said this game has oversight from the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control and the Ohio Inspector General’s Office.
“I think that all the businesses can just assume the fact that the inspector general will be coming through to look at their books,” Coley said. “The Inspector General’s Office, my guess, will definitely be investigating all of these and make sure they are” operating legally.
These “pool” games are legal because Barry Dyngles is not taking any money from the game. One hundred percent of the money collected is paid out to the winning participants. Dyngles’ game stipulates that the winning ticket owner must be present to win all of the funds. If the winner is not, just 50 percent of the pooled funds is paid. The other 50 percent is rolled into the next Queen of Hearts game with a clean 54-card board.
Coley does have a concern on that rollover aspect: Is a pool still a pool if the 50 percent not paid out is rolled into the next pool?
“We’re doing some checks into the law [to see] if that still qualifies as a pool,” he said.
GAME BOARDS
Kevin McHenry is vice president of Nannicola Inc., based at 2750 Salt Springs Road. It is one of the companies that sells the Queen of Hearts boards.
“It started homegrown. People would just get a deck of cards and stick them in a locked case,” McHenry said.
But that idea lacked security because someone always knew where the queen was, he said.
“We went to a manufacturer ... who sealed [all the cards] behind a thick coating so there’s no way they can get to the cards without a razor blade to cut them off. We feel it brings more security to the game,” McHenry said.
After every jackpot drawing, a fresh batch of tickets is sold. Tickets from previous drawings do not carry over, but the jackpot does. Most times, the Queen of Hearts is revealed after a couple of weeks or months, and the game starts over.
Some onlookers have raised issue with the use of a trash can to hold each drawing’s sold tickets. McHenry said it is still a random draw and officials of Barry Dyngles would have to answer to how they ensure all the tickets are mixed up.
“It’s not uncommon to see that when it grows to this size that [a trash can] is the receptacle used” for tickets, he said.
Sales for the board spiked after the first media reports. But overall, Queen of Hearts “isn’t a big-volume seller for us. We originally started selling it because it was a great tool for our customers to increase their business,” McHenry said.
McHenry addressed legal concerns by saying, “I think the local police and the Attorney General’s Office do look at these games. They’re not licensed, but they tend not to be this big.”
McHenry said most Queen of Hearts’ jackpots hit for under $10,000. The odds of a board going almost a year without a winner is a “long shot. It’s not unheard of. It’s a long shot to get to 40-plus weeks without finding the queen.”
SAFETY CONCERNS
The area around Dyngles keeps adjusting as the event’s popularity soars with each drawing. It’s been on Wednesdays, but the place is taking a break from it this coming Wednesday.
Raccoon Road had to be shut down for a time around this past Wednesday’s drawing. Some area businesses charge for parking in their own lots.
“You’ve got other issues – crowd control, traffic congestion. Where are these people parking their cars?” Gains said. “That all becomes a public nuisance and a public safety issue, and the Legislature has to address it.”
Austintown Fire Chief Andy Frost III said there haven’t been medical calls to the drawings at the township pub. But if called, they would take back roads to avoid Raccoon Road. “With that being closed, that might be the better way to go,” and the police could clear a path, Frost said.
Austintown police Capt. Bryan Kloss said he hasn’t received any complaints from township residents.
Kloss addressed media reports from last Wednesday night’s drawing that police officers verified the presence of Wednesday night’s ticket holder.
“The police department is not involved ... we’re just providing security with the people [who get their ticket pulled] and the money,” he said.
The township pub has hired off-duty officers to police its business and had five at the last drawing.
“There were absolutely no issues out there” Wednesday, Kloss said. “When you have that many people in one place, you’re going to have traffic back up.”
Asked directly about Coley’s concerns with the pool carrying over if the jackpot winner is not present, Kloss said: “I don’t know if the law says if it has to paid out at the end of the game.” He further explained that if that were to happen with the expected jackpot of $700,000 or more at the next drawing, a fresh board could start with $350,000.
“That would be a concern,” he said.
Coley, chairman of the Government Oversight and Reform Senate Committee, said the committee meets Sept. 17, the day after the next ticket drawing at Barry Dyngles.
“I’ve already talked to our gaming officials and the attorney general. We will be asking those questions in a public meeting Sept. 17,” Coley said.