In recent times, the cash prizes for bingo have been growing to astronomical proportions; just take these extremely lucky winners for example!
In Jan 2008, 53-year-old Christine Bradfield from Wales won £1,101,686 whilst attending her regular bingo session. Christine had entered the National Bingo Game just as she did every Sunday night in Merthyr Tydfil, but ended up walking away with the Platinum Jackpot. The jackpot is the combined prize total of 470 clubs in the UK in one of the biggest bingo competitions in the world. Christine said that she planned to share the money with her sister-in-law, and try not to spend it all on a leisurely lifestyle, as she knows she’d “be out shopping all the time”! Despite her enormous win, she’s determined to keep playing even if she doesn’t win again; “I just love the game,” she said. “I have been playing since I was old enough at 18 and I won’t stop now.” This was claimed to be the world’s biggest bingo win ever, until just a few months later…
In March 2008, 38-year-old Soraya Lowell from Lanarkshire also won the National Bingo Game’s Platinum Jackpot, receiving £1,167,795! When the final number wall called, the bingo hall was said to explode with cheers and screams as Soraya called out “full house”. When she got home, she and her family have been said to have celebrated until 6am about the winnings. When she first rang her husband, apparently he took some convincing to believe her! Although having four children herself, Soraya decided to giver half of her massive winnings to Agnes O’Neill, her neighbour and long-time bingo companion. She said that they’ve always shared their winnings and that this particular win was to be no different!
With the amount of players and jackpots still increasing, who knows how long it will be until multi-million pound jackpots will start to arise!