Aviston Queen of Hearts jackpot rolls over, will top $1 million

Aviston’s Queen of Hearts raffle isn’t over yet.

Brandon Koehler, of Carlyle, picked the three of spades instead of the coveted queen of hearts in the drawing Wednesday night, which was worth $948,000.

The drawing has been rolling over for more than 40 weeks at the American Legion Hall in Aviston. The Legion is using proceeds from the drawing and related fundraisers and sales to renovate its building.

Legion officials said the jackpot for next week’s drawing should be about $1.05 million to $1.07 million.

On Wednesday, a Belleville News-Democrat investigation revealed legal concerns with some Queen of Hearts raffles in Illinois.

The Legion has a license issued by the city but never filled out an application. The license did not include various criteria that appears to be mandated by state law.

Aviston Mayor Dale Haukap said he recognized the city made a mistake and is now having the Legion fill out an application.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Aviston Queen of Hearts jackpot rolls over, will top $1 million."