ROCHELLE — On Friday, March 1, the Rochelle VFW Post 3878 presented a $201,276 check to the winner of its Queen of Hearts contest, Steven Bialas. The contest ran the full 54 weeks and reached a $335,460 total final jackpot.

The Queen of Hearts drawing involves 54 cards hidden under a covering to be revealed one card per week until the Queen of Hearts is drawn. There are 52 playing deck cards with the two jokers hidden. Players at the local post can purchase tickets in increments of six for $5 and write a number corresponding to a hidden card on the board and their information on them before placing them in a tumbling drum. One ticket is drawn each Tuesday night and the card with the number on the ticket is revealed. 

When the Queen of Hearts is drawn, the winner receives 70 percent of the pot if they are present for the drawing and 60 percent if they are not present. The remaining 30-40 percent is split between the post and local non-profit organizations. 

Early in 2023, a previous iteration of the Queen of Hearts saw a full 54-week run with the final jackpot standing at $77,980. That record was broken in the most recent run. The next Queen of Hearts board will start on March 12 with the jackpot being $100,165. Tickets are available now at the post. 

VFW Trustee and Past Commander Bill Baumgartner said the most recent Queen of Hearts run yielded a lot of work and fun for the post’s leadership, members and staff. 

“This time was really a lot of work,” Baumgartner said. “It was crazy. Our second-to-last jackpot went 54 numbers as well and it was only $77,980. This was almost five times as big. We went through a lot of tickets.We had a lot of good help. It just got to the point where it became a madhouse in here at times. All in all, it went pretty smoothly. We had no problems or hiccups. I enjoy seeing people come out and meeting them. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun too.” 

Baumgartner said that the biggest hurdle for the post with hosting the Queen of Hearts with a large jackpot is when overwhelming crowds can be seen. The VFW’s leadership plans to meet to discuss how to best handle crowds and decide on which local nonprofits to donate the recent proceeds to. 

Following the 54-week run that yielded a $77,980 total jackpot, the Queen of Hearts was drawn on the first card in the next drawing. Baumgartner said he didn’t expect to see another 54-week run after that.

“We didn't expect to see it go the full distance and see the dollar amount get so high,” Baumgartner said. “I was getting nervous that the Queen of Hearts wasn't on the board under a number. It was a lot of fun. With us starting at such a high number, I'm worried the next one could go on a long run that reaches a high number. In this past one, the last three months saw it get bigger and bigger and spiral. It's just unreal how large it got. It's going to help the community and charities a lot.”

The VFW started hosting Queen of Hearts contests to help local charities and raise money for the post including needed improvements to the building. The VFW’s leadership will also soon decide on how it will use its portion of the recent jackpot. 

Baumgartner said the post is looking at different improvements for the building including renovation of one bathroom facility, replacing floors, a new PA system and a new lift. The post recently completed renovations to one of its bathrooms. 

“I'm glad to see things are going to slow down for a few months and come back to what I call normal,” Baumgartner said. “Over the weekends people are here buying tickets. It's phenomenal as far as revenue goes for us. That's going to help with a lot of the expenses we have.”

Baumgartner thanked the VFW’s bartenders for their work on serving crowds and selling tickets, along with its members that volunteered to help with the busier drawings. 

“We just want to support our veterans and see what we can do to make things better for them,” Baumgartner said. “That's why we keep doing this stuff.”