‘I headed to Mexico with £9,669!’
Betty Dickenson, 65, from Devon, has booked a special holiday thanks to her latest win
a couple of years ago, I was reading Woman’s Own and saw a story just like this one about Woman’s Own Bingo and thought I’d sign up. Boy, am I glad I did!
I had played bingo locally before, but I had never won and it was getting a bit pricey, so playing online seemed like a great alternative.
The site is really easy to use and there’s always something going on, so it’s always good fun to log in.
In July last year, I logged in one Monday afternoon. I’d had lunch with my daughter and husband, John. They were both sitting on the sofa, and I signed into my account for a few games.
I had £10 in my account that I’d won on a promo game and so I decided to make the most of it. I bought tickets for Diamond Bingo, a 90-ball room that I often play in. I only got six tickets – worth 60p – and was watching the game for a few minutes, before I realised I needed just two more numbers for two lines.
Then the number 35 came out and now I needed one more number to win.
‘I only need one more for the full house!’ I told my family. No sooner had I said it than the number I was waiting for got called and I hit the jackpot. It all happened so quickly. I did a double take before realising I had won £9,669! ‘I’ve hit the jackpot!’ I shrieked in shock. I think they thought I was kidding as they didn’t react at first. Then when they came over to the laptop screen and could see my balance, they believed me!
Treats all round
I was so chuffed as the win meant that I was able to treat my family and perhaps even book a lovely holiday for my husband and me as well…
I have a son and a daughter, so the first thing I did when the winnings were in my account was transfer them each some money.
My daughter put some towards her wedding and I used some of the winnings to book flights to Tuscany where she was tying the knot. She got married just outside of Florence. It was beautiful and my jackpot win also paid for our accommodation.
My son said he’ll use his money to do up his house. It’s a great feeling being able to help them both out.
With plenty of the jackpot left, I was able to enjoy thinking about what my
husband John and I could do. Our 45th wedding anniversary was this May, so my mind turned to that. As it was our sapphire anniversary, we thought it would be nice to do something special, so I started looking at holidays and flights online.
After a bit of searching, we came across Mexico, which looked absolutely beautiful. We booked to stay south of Cancun in the Riviera Maya in a stunning hotel for two weeks. We flew on the day of our anniversary – it was so exciting and such a memorable way to celebrate.
For me, I’m lucky enough that this isn’t the first holiday I’ve had thanks to a jackpot win. In April last year, I had another win of £1,000 in a game called April Showers.
It was a game where I won some of the jackpot and all the other players who were in the room at the time shared the second half between them.
I used those winnings to book flights to Thailand – John and I love travelling, so being able to see the world with my jackpot winnings is a dream come true for us!
I still play a few times a week, dipping into the chat room games
every now and then. I really like Blocks and Ernest’s Prize Giveaway, which are played in the chat rooms.
I sometimes pre-buy tickets, which means the computer ticks the numbers off for you if you’re called away from the screen. It’s so exciting if you come back to find you’ve had a win – whether it’s £1 or £100!
Jackpot fun
I love playing Woman’s Own Bingo and there’s always a new game to try or promotion to join in. If you log on in the morning, afternoon or evening, you’ll find people nattering away in the chat rooms and you never have to wait long to be part of a bingo game, so it works nicely around whatever else you’re doing.
Since I joined up, I have won more than £10,000, and, as it’s so much fun to play, the jackpots are a lovely bonus. But, as the saying goes, you have to be in it to win it!