Southend today became the mecca for bingo-lovers after yet another superb jackpot win.

A 78-year-old woman from Rochford, who asked to remain anonymous, walked away with a cool £205,000 in the national game where punters from venues all over England and Wales play for the jackpot prize.

The winner scooped the big win last night at Mecca Bingo Hall in Greyhound Way, which is fast gaining a reputation as one of the luckiest places to play bingo in the country.

She and her husband, a retired upholsterer, have been married for 54 years with one daughter and a grandson.

The woman joined Mecca when it first opened seven years ago and plays there once or twice a week - more if she could afford it.

She was playing the game last night with one of her four sisters when her numbers came up trumps and she claimed the £200,000 national jackpot, the £5,322 regional prize and the £318 club money.

A spokesman for the national game said the woman plans to buy her husband a new car and may go on holiday with her winnings.

In December alone at the Mecca hall in Southend, a 42-year-old mum from Southend won the national jackpot of £200,000 plus a £7,094 regional prize and the house prize of £297.

And just nine days earlier, the club was toasting the success of a 59-year-old widow from Canvey who scooped £108,000 when she cried full house on the national game.

Last year, the Southend club boasted six jackpot winners on the national bingo game and in the last seven years, a total of £1,568,238 has been paid out.

The computerised national game, which links up around 600 clubs across England and Wales, is second in size only to the National Lottery and pays out a guaranteed £1 million a week.

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