A newbie bingo player that only plays occasionally surprised other bingo players as she scooped the top prize in the Gala Carlisle special ticket session on Tuesday evening. The win will no doubt ensure that this Christmas is extra special for the 24 year old from Harraby.

The female bingo player who has requested to remain anonymous was the first person to pick up the £5,000 prize with a ticket at the Botchergate Gala since the special ticket was introduced three months ago.

She had made a visit to the Gala Bingo club with friends and family as a pre-Christmas night out.

As her bingo numbers came up she thought she had won £75 and was pleasantly surprised when she realised she had claimed in less than 44 numbers increasing her prize money by a whopping £5,000. If she had claimed three numbers earlier she would have won 4 times as much - £20,000.

She said: “I just couldn’t believe it. It would have been good to win £75 but to find out it was £5,000 was just fantastic particularly with Christmas coming up.”

Bingo players applauded and cheered as they too realised that the member had just won the jackpot.

The Gala general manager at the club, Alan Bell, had explained the aim on calling the full house on as little numbers as possible.

He added: “Call on or below 51 numbers and you win an additional £500. So far, there have been five lucky recipients of this prize.

“Calling on 44 numbers or less is worth £5,000 which is what she got.

“The winner called the game quickly but thought she had merely won the house prize of £75. When she was told about the extra £5,000 she was so shocked it was difficult for her to play the rest of the games.

''What a fantastic time to win some big money

'' All we are waiting for now is a call on 40 numbers or less - this would scoop an additional jackpot element of £20,000.”