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No big winner at Crickets Queen of Hearts, drawing continues
By Sarah Lehr
YOUNGSTOWN
The wait for a big winner continues at Crickets Bar.
No one drew the Queen of Hearts on Monday, as the jackpot reached $230,000.
The next drawing will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14, with ticket sales closing at 7 p.m. That drawing will be the final one, as organizers will keep drawing tickets until the Queen of Hearts comes up.
Hundreds showed up at Crickets, and someone did draw the Jack of Clubs.
One of the hopefuls was Mary Kay Sharp of Youngstown. Sharp joked that she was optimistic because her daughter, whose first name is Murphy, functioned as her “Irish luck.”
Monday’s festivities included live music from Glitter Pig, a local rock cover band, and food by Donavito’s Italian Grille and Lena’s Main Street Deli. Security personnel enforced rules that confined people drinking alcohol to inside the bar or under a tent outside.
Crickets regulars John Heasley and Lisa Pavel of Boardman fantasized about winning the jackpot, but said they came primarily for the atmosphere.
“It just has that neighborhood feel,” Heasley said.
The game involves 52 cards placed face down on a board. The object is to have your ticket drawn and to select a Queen of Hearts from the board. If someone hits another card, that card is eliminated and the game continues.
There are now only six cards left.
The Queen of Hearts drawing costs $5 per ticket. The winner collects 100 percent of the jackpot if he or she is at the bar in person, and 50 percent otherwise.
If the first person with a ticket drawn is there in person and selects a Joker or a Queen that is not the Queen of Hearts, he or she collects 10 percent of the pot. The owners of the next five tickets to be drawn automatically win $100 each.
Crickets also hosts a 50-50 raffle at $1 per ticket, with half of the proceeds benefiting charity.
Marsha Crespo of Brownlee Woods and her son, Michael, bought $70 worth of raffle tickets Monday. They plan to try again Aug. 14.
“Of course, we’ll be there,” Marsha said.