Waterloo Queen of Hearts raffle heads to $2 million grand finale
With the Queen of Hearts still in hiding Tuesday night and the jackpot closing in on its legal limit, the grand finale drawing for the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School raffle will be next week.
The jackpot, which began building in March, was announced at $1,574,218 on Tuesday. Raffle organizers said they expect it to grow to near $2 million by Jan. 31. They say they’ll keep pulling raffle tickets until a jackpot winner is crowned.
“We will draw until we have a winner,” the school said on its Queen of Hearts Facebook page, referencing the Jan. 31 raffle. “This is a week you won’t want to miss!!”
The next drawing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday next to the Outsider pub at 104 S. Market St. in downtown Waterloo. The game has to stop at $2 million because a Waterloo ordinance from 2017 caps the grand prize.
Players pick a playing card from a sealed poster board and if you pick the Queen of Hearts, you win the jackpot.
The five of spades was selected at the most recent drawing Tuesday night, leaving up 14 cards left on the board to be drawn next Tuesday.
Tickets cost $1. However, the registration for new players ended when the jackpot crossed the $1 million threshold last month and only those previously registered can buy tickets.
The Weather Channel forecast for Jan. 31 calls for a 60% chance of light snow with a high of 32 in Waterloo.
The school gets 20% of the ticket sales and the rest of the money goes to the jackpot.
A player has to be present to win the full jackpot, but gets half of the jackpot even if they’re not. The other half of the jackpot is then saved for a new round of the game.
Saints Peter and Paul has not announced what it will do with its share of the money.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 9:17 PM.
