Charities real winners of Queen of Hearts game at The Whistle Stop

ANSONIA — Crowds up to 10,000 were expected ahead of tonight’s Queen of Hearts drawing at The Whistle Stop with its more than $340,000 jackpot

Queen of Hearts — which has put the Darke County village on the map — is a legal game of chance in which the person holding the winning ticket pulled during a raffle has a chance to pick the Queen of Hearts from the remaining cards in the deck.

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A mother, father and daughter made the hourlong drive from Springfield to Ansonia to The Whistle Stop, 200 S. Main St. after watching News Center 7 reports on the game, which is now in at least its 36th week.

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Yvon Flatter of Greenville last week was the winner of a $2,000 prize, but she only got half because she wasn’t there.

But it’s the charities that are the big winners. Through the end of August, the nonprofits received more than $50,000 in donations, with that amount climbing through this fall.