Queen of Hearts millionaire felt his late mother’s spirit when he picked card No. 28
Sam Houston is officially a millionaire, three days after the Queen of Hearts shined her light on him.
Houston, a 61-year-old retired ironworker from Red Bud, received a check for $1,340,383.83 Friday from Lori Matzenbacher, principal of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, which conducted the Queen of Hearts raffle that Houston won Tuesday night in Waterloo.
He read off the amount of the check after getting it from Matzenbacher and said, “Thank you, Jesus.”
The actual jackpot, which he won Tuesday night, was $1,886,536 but about $546,152 had been taken out for income taxes before he got his check on Friday.
Overall, tax experts have told the News-Democrat that Houston would expect to see 41.95% taken for income taxes, with 37% going to the federal government since he entered the top income bracket and 4.95% going to the state.
“It’s been unreal,” is how Houston described the past few days.
Houston is married to Gina Houston and they have eight children ages 29 to 42 in a blended family. They also have 14 grandchildren.
Gina Houston’s birthday is Saturday, Feb. 4 so Houston said he plans to shop for a birthday present for his wife and take care of one request: “She said to put the check in her birthday card,” he said with a laugh.
The Houstons also want to take a trip to Las Vegas but they haven’t yet decided what to do with the rest of the money.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” Houston said. “People say it’s not going to change your life, they’ve got a lot more money in their bank account than I got.”
It was thoughts of his late mother, Betty Ann Houston, that made the jackpot winner a millionaire Tuesday night.
One of the few remaining spaces on the Queen of Hearts board that still had a playing card left to pick was No. 28.
It’s number that represents happy and sad times for Houston’s family.
“I looked at the board again, 28, that’s my mom’s birthday — 2-8-28,” he said, explaining why he picked that card. “So it was a pretty easy decision.”
He also had 28 in mind because one of the family members with Houston on Tuesday night at the raffle was his sister, Shelley Goodman. That was the number she had planned to choose in memory of her late husband, Alfred Goodman, who died on April 28, 2012, when a tent at a bar collapsed on him during a storm in downtown St. Louis after he had attended a Cardinals baseball game.
Houston’s plan from the start was to pick card No. 7 because that was the number worn by Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, who was Houston’s mother’s favorite player. But No. 7 had already been picked.
“I felt as if she was standing amongst us the entire time of each and every drawing,” Houston wrote in a two-page statement about his thoughts since Tuesday night.
Houston retired from Ironworkers Local 392, where his grandfather, father, brother and his late brother-in-law, Alfred Goodman, also worked, Houston wrote. Also, his son is a current member of the union.
Houston wrote that his wife has done so much to raise their family and, “If anyone in this world deserves this money, it’s my wife without any doubt in my mind.”
School’s share of Queen of Hearts raffle
Matzenbacher said Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School has not yet announced its share of the raffle fundraiser because there are still expenses to be totaled.
It will be a considerable jump from profits made from prior Queen of Hearts drawings because the highest jackpot before this round was $92,000.
The school also has not announced what it will do with its share of the money but Matzenbacher has said one possible project includes a new roof for the school’s gym.
Matzenbacher thanked all of the volunteers for their help in organizing the event that attracted large crowds to downtown Waterloo on Tuesday nights.
Participants who were not present for the raffle were eligible to win only half of the jackpot, which was strong incentive for players to flood the streets of Waterloo each night there was a drawing. The jackpot had been growing since last March.
Matzenbacher said since Saints Peter and Paul is a private school, the supporters of the school need to conduct various types of fundraisers to help keep the school running.
This week’s drawing coincided with Catholic Schools Week.
“It’s always a busy, fun, exciting time to celebrate our faith and our school and our parish,” Matzenbacher said. “It just added to the excitement of the week.
“It’s been a lot of extra work for us but most definitely beneficial.”
The raffle had to be capped at $2 million because of a 2017 Waterloo ordinance that set that limit. Since the jackpot was approaching the legal limit, the raffle organizers said they would keep pulling raffle tickets Tuesday night until someone found the Queen of Hearts.
There were 14 cards left before Tuesday night and Houston was the 12th person selected to pick a card. The suspense had built for over an hour before he picked lucky No. 28 front of a large crowd in downtown Waterloo.
Players picked playing cards that were face down and sealed on a poster board. By picking the space that had the Queen of Hearts, Houston was crowned the winner.
He had purchased $20 worth of tickets at $1 each for Tuesday night’s drawing, just like he had for the six previous drawings.
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School gets 20% of the ticket sales and the rest of the money goes to the jackpot.
The school’s next round of Queen of Hearts will resume April 11. You can get more information on the Waterloo Queen of Hearts Facebook page.
This story was originally published February 3, 2023 at 1:12 PM.
