Lucky seat leads to £50,000 New Year jackpot at Mecca Bingo Leeds
A lucky bingo player stepped into the New Year with fortune on his side after scooping a £50,000 jackpot at Mecca Bingo’s Leeds Mayfair club.
The regular player, who wishes to remain anonymous, hit the amazing jackpot this month while playing the National Bingo Game at the Mecca club on New York Street, where he has been a customer for six years.
The player was sitting in his usual lucky seat when he completed his ticket and claimed a full house - unaware that he had triggered the fabulous £50,000 National Game jackpot, in addition to the local full house prize, by marking off all the numbers within the first 16 numbers being called.
The lucky winner said: ‘’When I hit the claim button and shouted ‘House!’ I thought I had just won the local prize. When someone told me how much I had actually won, I just couldn’t believe it! I was shaking with disbelief. I’ve been playing for years but never won anything big – I play for fun and to make friends, so this win is just incredible. The atmosphere in the club was amazing, with everyone cheering and congratulating me.’’
“I was in such a state of shock that I just carried on playing the next game! It’s starting to sink in now, but I’m still undecided about what to do with the money – maybe a holiday, though I’m not sure where yet.”
Sami Whitmore, assistant manager of Mecca Bingo Leeds Mayfair, said: “Everyone was clapping and cheering. The team were absolutely buzzing with excitement. It’s the biggest jackpot that I’ve overseen since moving to Leeds Mayfair last year. It’s always fantastic to tell a customer that they’ve won that much money - some of the staff got really emotional for him.’’
“The winner, who’s a regular at the club, was completely stunned – he asked me to repeat the amount a few times to make sure he’d heard it right! He always sits in his favourite lucky seat, near the caller’s table to enjoy a bit of banter, and that favourite seat really turned out to be his lucky charm that night.’’