A 51-year-old mother-of-four on benefits has scooped two huge bingo to become a millionaire in just 10 days.
Anita Campbell from County Durham won £597,000 within the first few hours of opening an online Mecca Bingo account, and little more than a week later scooped up another £552,000 to become a millionaire.
For more than a year Campbell had been struggling to make ends meet and was dependent on Universal Credit. She had been losing weight from not eating properly and wrestling with diabetes, but now she is one of the UK’s wealthiest one per cent.
Following the win, she told the Mirror: “It’s still a bit of a dream. ‘I’m over the moon, I still can’t believe it. I thought straight away I can help my kids with this money.”
To celebrate her win, Campbell has treated her four children to shopping trips and bought some early Christmas presents for her five-year-old grandson, but she has not been frivolous. She has paid off her debts, bought houses for herself and her 73-year-old father, and paid for her daughter’s expensive IVF treatment, and generously donated her old furniture to those in need. But she also admits she still enjoys a few games of online bingo when she gets the time, explaining: She said: “I play just for fun, I’ve never deposited more than £20 at a time but if I am bored in the house on my own I’ll play a game or two.”
Digital Director of Mecca Bingo, James Boord, told the Daily Mail that they were “delighted” that they were able to help her with “such life-changing opportunities” and they “wish the winner and her family all the luck in the world”.
Mecca Bingo turned Campbell into an ‘overnight’ millionaire, but for those looking to find the best online bingo network, her win pales in comparison to the biggest bingo jackpots in recent years. Her combined £1.1m winnings is less than 20 per cent of the biggest jackpot in bingo history – a staggering £5,883,044.43 jackpot – which was won by JobCentre worker John Orchard back in 2012.
