‘I took my family abroad for the first time!’

Michelle Pedder, 44, from Hertfordshire, jetted off to Turkey thanks to her bingo win

When I heard about online bingo, 15 years ago, I had to see what all the fuss was about. A friend was a member on Woman’s Own Bingo, so I set up an account to have a go.

I’d played bingo locally before but, with twins on the way, it was getting harder to get to the local hall. Instead, I switched to playing online and I’ve never looked back!

The Woman’s Own Bingo site was easy to use and I soon got chatting to other members.

Chatter boxes

Alongside the bingo games are chat rooms, so you can have a chat with other people who are online. Sometimes people talk about the games but a lot of the time it’s about recipes, telly, the weather or even what’s going on in their family. The chat rooms are great fun and make playing on

Woman’s Own Bingo really sociable. Even if I don’t feel like chatting, I like reading the other conversations – there’s always someone that brings a smile to my face! Over the years, I’ve had a fair few wins, scooping £100 or £50 on various games and on the slots. In March this year, I had my biggest win yet. I was playing in Sapphire and it was my last game from the six tickets I’d bought. Then I flicked back to the bingo to see if my game was still going. You don’t have to be in the room when it’s playing out as it automatically ticks off your numbers. When I looked at my bingo game, I had three numbers to go. Straight away, one of my numbers was called and then I only had 20 and 33 to go. Holding my breath, I watched in shock as 20 was called. To my surprise, 33 was the next number to come out. I jumped off my seat and screamed with joy – I had won the £1,000 jackpot prize! ‘I’ve hit the jackpot!’ I announced, grabbing the phone to give my mum a call. Just a few months before, she’d won £7,800 on Woman’s Own Bingo, now it was my turn! The money was in my bank account within just two days.

Dreaming of holidays

I didn’t need long to decide what to do with the money. For years I’d promised my twins – now 14 years old – a holiday abroad. They’d never been abroad. This year we’d be hopping on a plane and heading somewhere sunny.

We settled on Marmaris, Turkey and I booked a two-week holiday for the twins and my eldest son and daughter, too. We went in August this year and had such fun.

I won on Sapphire bingo, but I also play Session bingo and Fluffy Favourites is my slot game of choice. It’s not just me who loves Woman’s

Own Bingo, my mum’s a player and my friends all got accounts after hearing my news. We all log in at the same time and talk in the chat rooms!

My family has life-long memories thanks to our trip to Turkey

‘I jumped off my seat and screamed with joy’