Blyth woman’s winning bingo streak nets £22,000

A 55-year-old Blyth woman is elated after winning a £20,000 bingo prize.

And the happy woman, who does not want to be named, says she must be on a winning streak as only two weeks earlier she won £2,000 - also at the Mecca Club in Post Office Square.

It was on Saturday, 14 July that she won the National Bingo Game prize of £20,000 plus the house prize of £123.

The National prize that evening was £100,000 but she had to share with four other players in Edinburgh, the West Midlands, Birmingham and Kent, who all completed a full house in 45 numbers, the lowest call in any of the 500 clubs playing nationwide.

“I was on a high after winning £2,000, so to win £20,000 was wonderful,” she said. “I was so shocked though that I couldn’t move when I was first told how much I had won. When I got home my family said I didn’t look well and thought that it was my diabetes. I told them, ‘Yes, I’m not well. I’ve just won £20,000.’”

The woman, who is married with three daughters and eight grandchildren, has been playing bingo since she was 18 years old. She particularly likes the Mecca and has been a member since it opened, playing there four or five times a week.

“My work colleagues keep rubbing their lottery tickets against me to try to pick up on some of my luck,” she laughed. “In fact, we have a lottery syndicate at work and I’m going to buy the ticket this week in case I’m lucky again!”

She intends to use the money to buy a caravan, together with a car to pull it, so that she can take her grandchildren away on holiday. She will also save some to give her family a ‘lovely Christmas.’