Chippy bingo player '˜shocked' over £25k win

Diana Marlow, 52, attends the Gala Bingo, in Banbury, every Sunday and has been playing the game since the age of 18.

Mrs Marlow comes from a family of bingo players with her father, mother and sister, Jane, having all played the game.

She has won a few minor prizes over the years, the largest being £1,200, but that changed on March 4 when she played the National Live game, a live link up/bingo call with all clubs across the country. Players pay £1 to take part.

Speaking to the Banbury Guardian, Mrs Marlow said when she told Jane her numbers had come up during the game, Jane said, ‘You have just won £25,000!’

The mother-of-two said: “I went as white as a sheet. I had to play the rest of the game and I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’ve won some money.’

“I was in shock, total shock. It just hit me. It took three days before it sank in I had won that money.”

Mrs Marlow added she was going to spend some of the money on a new car and the rest would go in the bank.

She was presented with a cheque last Sunday, which was the icing on the cake on a weekend which saw the birth of her second grandchild, Archie, who joins her granddaughter, Eve.

She shared a bottle of bubbly with the staff as a way of saying thank you.

Mrs Marlow, who has been a member of the Banbury club since 1999, said she would continue to go to bingo.

She said: “I love it, absolutely love going to bingo. It’s the atmosphere and the friendly staff.”