(CLEVELAND) The Queen lives! Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has written his opinion that the Queen of Hearts drawing at places like the Grayton Road Tavern is legal. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O'Malley raised the question when Grayton Road Tavern didn't pay out the full amount of the pot but rolled ten percent to the next drawing and asked the Attorney General's opinion.
"Based upon the information provided by the prosecutor, games such as this would not violate the law if the game had a meticulous and defined set of rules, all money collected from participants was distributed to winners by the game's final round, and the proprietor did not take a cut of the prize pool," reads DeWine's statement.
"How happy we are just to actually be able to announce that we can start selling the tickets and play this game again," says Tavern General Manager Jennifer Natale about the ruling. "It's not so much for the Grayton Road Tavern but it's actually for all the people who play this game."
The pot will start at $550,361. Ticket sales begin Thursday, May 17th and the first drawing is May 23rd.