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Queen of Hearts winner claims $319,000 prize
Queen Of Hearts Winner
Video
John Riley of Youngstown reacts after winning the Queen Of Hearts drawing at Crickets Bar.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
When John Riley left Crickets Bar and Grill, he was an estimated $319,000 richer than when he walked there.
The winner was very calm but said: “It’s unbelievable.”
He got up Monday morning feeling lucky, so he got a haircut and walked from the Brownlee Woods section of the city to the drawing.
Riley said he had attended each of the drawings leading up to Monday at Crickets. He has a son getting married soon and plans to help out with the wedding, and he just became a grandfather and plans to “spoil the child a bit.”
Riley said he plans to keep working, but didn’t say where he’s employed.
The way in which he arrived at his good fortune wasn’t without controversy.
“You’re supposed to put the number of the card you pick on the ticket. The guy had no number on his ticket,” said a frustrated Michele Barry of Boardman, who was among the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people who jammed the inside, outdoor patio and stage area of the eatery at 1733 E. Midlothian Blvd. for the drawing.
During the contest, six of the 52 cards were left that had been placed on the board for the game, the object of which was to have a ticket drawn and select the Queen of Hearts from the board. Players paid $5 each to enter the drawing.
Beforehand, when someone hit a given card, it was eliminated, and the game continued minus one card until the Queen of Hearts was picked.
No limits were placed on the number of tickets one person could buy. Many players bought multiple tickets to improve their odds of winning.
Barry, who works for a Canfield cancer facility, added that had she won, she likely would have used the money to “help my kids out, buy a new car and waterproof my basement.”
Also upset by the drawing was Barry’s friend and co-worker Jan Morrison of Boardman, who echoed Barry’s view, saying she felt the process was unfair and that the ticket that lacked the proper information should have been eliminated.
“I’m rather conservative, so I would have paid off my house, paid off my parents’ and bought a new car,” Morrison said.
The process was conducted as fairly as possible, said Don Holovatick, who owns Crickets, along with his wife, Christine. Complicating matters was that many participants placed into the drum the wrong portion of their tickets, which didn’t contain the necessary information such as the player’s name, phone number and the number that corresponded to the card selected, he explained.
Those who didn’t write on their tickets the numbers that corresponded to the cards they picked were given the option of picking from the remaining cards, Holovatick said, adding that everyone had the same shot at selecting the winning card.
“About 99.9 percent of the people in the crowd are not going home happy,” he said. “You can’t make everyone happy.”
Holovatick noted that 17,836 tickets, or $89,180 worth, were sold for this week’s drawing. He also estimated the odds of winning at about 107,000 to 1.