After months of frenzied waiting, there's finally a winner in the huge Queen of Hearts game at Skylane Bowling in Garrettsville, Ohio.
Taking the $3.4 million prize is Terri Vechery, a 74-year-old resident of nearby Mantua. She was not present, so she’ll get 90% of the pot, or $3.082 million. The other 10% will roll over into a new Queen game that will start in about a month.
The companion 50-50 game also set a record, with a $312,000 jackpot. Jeff Stosik of Warren, Ohio, won $156,000, and the other half will be split between Portage County libraries and the Garrettsville Chamber of Commerce.
The Queen game began more than a year ago with 54 hidden cards, and went down to the final three cards, igniting Queen of Hearts fever that put the 16-lane center in the spotlight for months.
Senior correspondent Dennis Bergendorf has been all over this story, and will have a feature story on its genesis and progress in the October issue of Bowling Center Management.