Bingo winners call house for £47,000

From the archive, first published Friday 13th Apr 2007.

A RUN of good luck has seen six people walk away from a Basildon bingo club in the past few weeks a total of £47,000 richer.

The winners were all playing Afternoon Delight and Link games at Basildon's Gala Bingo Club, on Southernhay, when their numbers came up.

The lucky streak started on April 3 when a woman from Brentwood won £10,000 on the Afternoon Delight game, plus a regional prize of £458, after 43 numbers had been called.

Next, two people playing Afternoon Delight on Easter Friday both called house and each won a £6,666 share of a national jackpot.

The winners, who did not wish to be named, included a 72-year-old man from Billericay, who has been playing bingo at the Basildon club two to three times a week for the past 12 years.

The other winner was a woman, aged 45, from Benfleet who plays bingo at the club most days and first joined 13 years ago. The pair also took home a further £226 apiece, sharing a regional prize.

Sandra Doganer, assistant manager at Gala Bingo, said: "We're having a good run of luck at the moment."

She said the three other wins included one person who won £15,000, another who netted £7,500 and a third who got £1,166.

Once again, none of the winners wanted to be identified.

More than three million people play bingo twice a week in Britain.

A total of £944million has been won since the National Bingo Game started in 1986.