Bingo winners
…but my group of bingo friends are my best wins Janet Maiden, 56, Leyland
Scanning my wardrobe for something comfortable to wear to my job as a cashier at a nearby petrol station, I smiled.
I’d spotted a green T-shirt with ‘Tiki Monkeys’ on the front, which brought back so many fun memories.
‘Nottingham 2017,’ I said to my husband John, 62.
‘What happens on tour, stays on tour,’ he grinned.
It was May 2019 and for several years I’d been meeting up with a group of women I’d met on the Chat Mag Bingo site.
I’d signed up five years ago now, when a friend suggested I played it.
I quickly became a massive fan, especially when I started making friends in the chatrooms.
In the summer of 2017, a few of the women suggested we got together for a weekend away.
We met up in Nottingham, went for a slap-up meal and stayed overnight in a hotel.
The following year, we went to Birmingham, and we were already planning our next trip.
That night, I came home from work and settled down on the sofa to play a few games on Chat Mag Bingo.
Earlier in the day I’d spent 35p and pre-bought 35 1p tickets on a 90-ball game in Tiki. And while I waited for the numbers to come up, I started tapping away in the chatroom.
I could see my numbers being dabbed off one by one and smiled when I saw I had a win on two lines.
But then, new messages from my bingo friends began popping up on the screen. Well done! one wrote.
What’s going on? I typed back, confused. Looks like you’ve won the Full House, typed my friend.
Gobsmacked, I checked my numbers.
Sure enough, £1,495 was showing in my account! It was not just the Full House, I’d won the Progressive Jackpot too. Straight away, I rang John. He didn’t believe me. Only, once I started talking about the new three-seater sofa I wanted to buy with my winnings, he realised I hadn’t been joking.
My bingo buddies were delighted for me. Now, we’re getting T-shirts ready for our next weekend away.