National Bingo Jackpot

A National Bingo Jackpot prize of £100,000 has been won by a woman from Sprowston in Norfolk. The winner, who has been named as Julie, is fifty years old and is bravely fighting cancer for the third time in her life.

A National Bingo Jackpot prize of £100,000 has been won by a woman from Sprowston in Norfolk. The winner, who has been named as Julie, is fifty years old and is bravely fighting cancer for the third time in her life. Having previously beaten the disease twice over – once in the neck and once in the arm – she is now receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which affects the lymphatic system.

In February of this year, Julie decided to join the Mecca Bingo Club located at Aylsham Road in Norwich as a way of getting herself out of the house after her previous health challenges. She was then diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in March.

“I felt that bingo would be an enjoyable activity that would not be too strenuous for me,” she explained.

Julie was playing the National Bingo Game with her friend when she achieved a full house in just 40 numbers. This won her the house prize, worth £495, and because she beat everyone else in the country she scooped the national prize of £100,000. Some 470 bingo clubs participate in the game, and each clubs can accommodate hundreds of players, so winning was no small feat.

Julie is married and has three children and four grandchildren. She describes the sense of surprise that she experienced at the moment she discovered her win: “I sat there in shock when I realised I had won. I thought I must have just won the house prize.  My friend had to tell me three times how much I had actually won to get it across to me.”

Now that the news of the win has sunk in, Julie is making plans to put her money to good use. She intends to splash out on her children and enjoy a well-earned holiday with her husband. “I’m presently having chemotherapy and will start radiotherapy shortly.  Once that’s finished I may think about a holiday,” she said.

“I can’t think yet what else I’m going to spend the money on as it’s still too much of a shock, so I think any decisions will have to wait until after Christmas,” she said. “My husband still doesn’t believe it.”

9th November 2007