What Happened to Some of the Biggest Bingo Winners?

Happiness or Curse?

Winning the lottery is a bucket list dream for probably every person around the globe. Every week, millions of people try their luck in at least one game of chance. More precisely, over 3 million people play bingo solely in the UK, hoping to grab that stunning jackpot!

And one of the most exciting things about bingo is that it is a game of chance since everyone has an equal opportunity; they just need a bit of luck!

Although prizes at bingo halls are usually small and consist of a pot made by the number of people entering each game, online versions are linked games run by major bingo brands over several sites, and the prizes are thus larger. What’s more, there are also progressive jackpots that constantly grow.

Winning this amount of money can suddenly give you a tremendous fortune and a dazzling future. But, while most of us imagine that all lottery and bingo winners live happily ever after, that isn’t the reality for many of them. Let’s have a look at some of the biggest bingo winners and how winning the crazy amount of money affected their lives.

Beating All the Records

Former factory worker, John Orchard, won one of the biggest ever bingo prizes in December 2012. At the time, John was 60-year-old, and he couldn’t have imagined he was about to win a fantastic £5.9 million. According to John, he stumbled upon a bingo website, decided to create an account, and started playing by wagering only 30p.

Surprisingly, after just a couple of days, the lucky man struck a gold mine and shocked the entire online gaming community! However, his win wasn’t precisely a bingo win! Apparently, he bet on a Dark Knight video slot title and reaped the rewards. But, the website’s name is Butlers Bingo, and it is primarily an online bingo site, so that counts!

Due to this impressive win, Josh got his retirement five years earlier and decided to treat himself to a Jaguar XF. Besides, together with his wife, he visited his great-granddaughter in Canada and then returned to a new house where he lived happily.

From Boredom to Wealth

The same year John Orchard won and retired, Lisa Porter from Oxfordshire also became one of the biggest winners on the Ladbrokes online bingo site! But, the reason why she opted for trying out her luck is fantastic!

Apparently, Lisa was bored because her husband was enjoying a European Championships football match, so, in order to pass some time, she decided to play an online bingo game!

Lisa placed a £5 bet, and it only took her a few minutes to become a millionaire when she grabbed a whopping £1.3 Million jackpot.

In an interview, the mother of three said she couldn’t believe what happened and when she showed her kids the jackpot, they all began to scream and jump around the room.

It is safe to say it was a well-deserved win since Lisa had been a single mother of three for a long time, so she was all about hard work. Besides, she always put her children first and hardly ever managed to find time for herself!

This prize allowed her to go on holiday, enjoy shopping and make some investments in the future!

Double Luck

The only thing better than winning a bingo jackpot is winning TWO bingo jackpots! That’s what happened to a mum of four struggling on benefits, Anita Campbell!

Anita was in a challenging situation as she had lost weight and couldn’t eat properly because she had diabetes. However, luck was finally on her side not once but two times when she won two amazing bingo prizes in just two weeks!

After Anita made an account at the Mecca Bingo website and won a £597,000 jackpot, she decided to keep going and made a fantastic decision since, after just ten days, she grabbed another £552,000.

Anita immediately started turning her life around as she bought her dad a new house, paid all her bills, moved out of her rented apartment, and helped as many people as she could around her.

A good portion of the cash went to one of her daughters for IVF treatment, while Anita also invested in a health community, proving she was a well-deserved winner!

Persistence Paid Off

Christine Bradfield did decide to disregard her husband’s wishes and stop playing bingo so much, but we are sure he is glad she didn’t since she managed to grab £1,101,686.

In 2008, Christine and her sister-in-law were playing in the same local bingo club they’d been playing for nearly 11 years when the luck came in and made her the first-ever Platinum Jackpot winner in the world!

Christine and her sister-in-law spent only around £16, but an even more impressive fact is that the two women actually had a deal right from the start to split any potential winning. Christine did not doubt she would break the jackpot 50-50 and share it with her beloved bingo companion!

Has she changed her lifestyle?

Well, even though she’d become a millionaire, Christine vowed to return to her work at a local garage out of fear she’d die of boredom or spend all of her winnings and die broke.

What’s more, she continued playing the game, now more than ever, when she realized winning wasn’t that impossible!