Hampshire man wins huge £171,000 jackpot at bingo hall

Gareth Bedford, from Southampton, took home the combined winnings of £171,546.81 on Wednesday after winning the Rollover Jackpot at the Buzz Bingo hall in Antelope Park.

The prize money had been rolled over for 32 days before the 33-year-old won the jackpot with the number 55.

Mr Bedford, who was playing with his dad Peter and sister Claire Kassimy, said afterwards that he was going to spend the day at the races but changed his mind after seeing the rainy weather forecast.

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He said: ‘I am ecstatic and shocked to have won such a life-changing sum of money.

‘When I called “house”, I hadn’t realised how long the jackpot had rolled over for. What I thought was a normal £2,500 win turned out to be over £171,000! I couldn’t quite believe it and when someone told me, I burst into tears of joy and bought all the other players a round of drinks to celebrate.’

He said he would be sharing half his winnings with his sister and the splitting the other half with his sister.

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Paula Joynson, general manager at the Buzz Bingo hall, added: ‘We couldn’t be happier for Gareth’s incredible win. The Double Number Jackpot is still quite a new game to Buzz Bingo so to see someone in our club win such a huge jackpot this early in is phenomenal.’