One lucky grandfather from Weston-Super- Mare is celebrating after scooping a fantastic £391k jackpot on leading bingo website galabingo.com.

Unable to sleep the restless shift worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, logged on to have a quick play on the site’s popular five-reel Irish themed Leprechaun’s Luck slot game. Just minutes later the 61-year-old hit the pot of gold – winning a staggering £391,146.

In total disbelief the ecstatic aircraft refueller had to wait until the morning to confirm his eyes weren’t deceiving him and he in fact clearly had the luck of the Irish!

Still in shock, he said: “I keep pinching myself. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to me! I’ve always longed to be my own boss and this win has allowed me to do just that. I’ve just handed in my notice and now plan to set up my own gardening business.”

He added: “I’m also looking forward to spoiling my family. My fifth grandchild is due in the summer and winning on galabingo.com will allow us to treat the whole family.”

Lesley Whyte, consumer PR manager for Gala said: “We give away over £62 million a month and always love hearing how our players plan on spending their winnings. We wish this lucky customer all the best in starting his new gardening business and spoiling his entire family.”

Lesley added: “While our Leprechaun’s Luck jackpot may have just gone, there’s still plenty of opportunity for our players to strike lucky with our other games such as Alice’s Wonderland, which currently has a jackpot of nearly £100k*.”

*Jackpot correct at time of going to press

Neill Whyte, Head of Bingo at Microgaming said in a statement to the press that, “These latest Side Games are further evidence of Microgaming’s continued commitment to offering the very best entertainment mix possible. With player enticement and retention paramount for our operators, Side Games are an increasingly important element of our Bingo offering and we are constantly striving to add top quality content. November’s Side Games provide a real sense of variety, with video slots, AWP style games and instant wins, which we’re sure players will respond very well to.”

The four new side games feature a selection of slot games with various themes, including an excellent slot game with a medical theme.

The following information is taken from the Microgaming website.

REEL GEMS is the latest five-reel slot to join Microgaming’s portfolio of Bingo Side Games. The jewel-laden game features 243 Ways to Win and showcases Microgaming’s new re-spin feature. Reel Gems is focused on the glittering theme of precious gems and offers diverse winning opportunities through a mix of Wild, Scatter, Multiplier and retriggering Free Spins.

When 3, 4 or 5 Diamond Ring symbols appear on the reels it will activate 15 retriggering Free Spins, which triple all wins, with the opportunity of up to 120,000 coins on this feature alone. Rewards can be reaped by using the glistening Reel Gem logo as a substitute for other symbols, delivering up to 40,000 coins in return.

MAGNIFICENT 777’S is an AWP style game with three reels, holds and nudges. The game’s symbols are a mix of coloured seven’s and stars, and wins are awarded when three of a kind symbols appear on the win-line. Red Sevens are worth up to 200 times the original bet, Blue Sevens are worth up to 10 times and any mix of Red and Blue Sevens are worth up to double the original bet.

When a coloured star appears on the middle reel’s win line, a random number of winning spins are awarded, with the value of each added to the balance at the end of each spin. A Bronze Star pays out lower end total, a Silver Star pays out middle range total wins, with an odd chance of paying a high total win and a Gold Stars pays out high end total wins. The reel band also has ‘dash’ symbols that do not produce a three of a kind win, but they will break up potential wins.

PHAROAH’S GEMS is the second game in November’s double bill of gem themed Side Games and takes the form of a three-in-one instant win card. Big prizes are the aim of the game and players have three chances to win in the pharaoh’s tomb, with the opportunity to take home up to 7500 times their original stake.

The game’s theme is the grandeur and opulence of Ancient Egypt, as players are challenged to search for the treasures of the pharaohs. With three games on offer, discovering a win in the treasure chest in game 1, matching a gem to the winning symbol in game 2, or revealing a prize from the Nefertiti statue in game 3, all lead the player to riches.

GERMINATOR is a highly infectious slot style game where a host of colourful germs act as the symbols. The aim is to match three or more similar germs in a horizontal or vertical line to win. When a row of germs are involved in a winning line they are “cured”, allowing the germs above to cascade down and fill the gap, offering players the chance of even more wins.

If three or more bonus pills appear on the grid at the end of the game, the Medi-Bonus will trigger, allowing players to remove an entire strain of germs from the screen. The maximum jackpot for a single winning line is 360 coins, but players can benefit from an infinite number of cascades, greatly increasing their win potential.

The player managed to spin five matching tiger symbols in the middle line to win the progressive jackpot. The prize amount won depends on the amount wagered by the player.

The lucky players username on Mecca Bingo is Dudderbear and she is a mother of two from Leeds, Yorkshire. She has played on Mecca Bingo for around a year after signing up when she saw a flyer in her local bingo hall in Leeds.

She told the Mecca Bingo website, ““When my win came up on the screen my mouth just dropped open! I ran and told my mum but she didn’t believe me! My mum has a broken leg so she couldn’t jump around the room with me! She was my calm influence.”

Dudderbear said she plans to use some of the winnings to buy a new car.

The networked prize pool is accumulated from players on separate games. Matching combinations of balls then pay multiple amounts based on the total amount staked by an individual. The stake-per-game is £0.25 and each winning ball combination of five or more characters returns a respective cash prize in addition to a set of points which gives the player a position on the leaderboard. The higher up on the ladder a player is, the greater their share of the community jackpot.

George and the Dragon and Treasure Time Traveller Also launched by Virtue Fusion Alderney is George and the Dragon, a five reel, twenty five line slot with exploding reels, stakes per spin of £0.01-£50.00 and a progressive jackpot which has been seeded at £5,000. It also contains a bonus feature where the player, as the character of George, fights the Dragon to save the Princess.

Treasure Time Traveller is a new nine square scratchcard with a historical theme. Stake amounts vary from £0.10-£10.00 and players reaching the bonus round get the chance to pick a bygone era and destination, then travel through time to collect their winnings.

Virtue Fusion Alderney CEO Bob McCulloch said: “I am sure that bingo players across our network will love playing these new games. The community jackpot which is also part of our Blockbusters game is a feature that helps make online bingo even more sociable, so we expect it will be very popular.”

An online bingo player with the handle “Millane” won the prize while playing the Snow Queen Magic slot game. The progressive jackpot was won after the player brought up five matching Snow Queen symbols.

A spokesperson for Virgin Games said that “Millane” only won ten per cent of the total progressive jackpot amount as they had only been playing ten pence stakes rather than the one pound stakes per spin necessary to win the maximum prize.

Although the progressive jackpot is usually won by the time it reaches $150,000, the winner didn’t mind waiting just a little longer to receive significantly more.

“Of course you always hope you’re going to win a big one someday. After all, that’s why we play!” said the winner. “But I honestly never really expected something like this to happen to me! Even when I saw it on my screen I could hardly believe it! It wasn’t until the Customer Service Rep at Slotland contacted me that it really started to sink in.”

YUKON plans to pay off some debts with his winnings and to go someplace sunny and warm for a holiday.

Last year Slotland paid out nearly $800,000 in progressive jackpot wins. This is the second major jackpot win on the Golden 8 slot. Treasure Box has produced three big jackpot winners in the last couple of years, and two players have struck it rich playing the Jacks or Better video poker slot game.

“I don’t waste my money trying to win million dollar jackpots at other sites,” said one Slotland player. “The reason some of those are so big is that they are rarely, if ever, actually won. But Slotland has a big winner every few weeks, it seems, so I feel like I actually have a chance to win here. ”

Slotland.com currently features 15 one-of-a-kind slot machines and video poker games. Four of the most popular games are also available on mobile phones and PDAs. All of Slotland’s slot machines give players the option of placing a maximum bet for a chance at the progressive jackpot. They’re all instant play casino games with nothing to download or install. Some are now available in Flash format and fully compatible with iPhones.

The jackpot at Slotland is currently over $58,000. Meanwhile at Slotland’s sister casino, WinADay.com, the jackpot was last won at the end of March for a record-breaking $224,420 and is currently over $180,000.

Kelly D is the name of the winner and she said that “everything has been a blur since I won. I won at around 10.30 p.m. and didn’t sleep a wink afterwards!”

When she was playing the game the banker offered her a deal at £57. Thankfully she decided against the deal and took on the chance of a progressive slots jackpot and the gamble paid off!

The Deal or No Deal game has a history of big payouts from Jackpot Joy as it also provided the biggest single win on the site. A monstrous £1.4million win!

She is a regular Bingo player and thought she would try her luck on one of Bet365 Bingo’s Slot Games when she saw just how big the Lucky Ladies 88 Progressive Jackpot had become.

efpraxia had only been a member of Bet365 Bingo for five months before her amazing win. She started playing with them because she finds the software easy to use. It certainly turned out to be a smart move!

With her win having only just sunk in, efpraxia has a couple of ideas of what she will do with the money. She plans to buy a brand new car and, of course, treat herself to a celebratory drink or two.

Bet365 Bingo would like to congratulate her on this fantastic win and wish all Bet365 Bingo players the best of luck. With a number of great Progressive Jackpots on offer, you too could find out how wonderful it feels to be in efpraxia’s shoes!

The Clover Rollover slot game’s progressive jackpot has been rising for months and was up to £1,201,233.77 when the lucky Mecca Bingo player hit it. The player hit five lucky shamrocks with the maximum slot stake of £1 per line, meaning that the player staked £5 to scoop the huge payout.

Currently Mecca Bingo are not releasing any details about who the lucky winner was as they go through age verification and security checks prior to paying out the huge jackpot.

The Clover Rollover game, which has the tag line “It’s the Luck of the Irish”, is available across the network of Virtue Fusion software powered sites, including Crown Bingo, Scot Bingo, Ladbrokes Bingo, William Hill Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo, Sky Bingo and several small brands.

The Clover Rollover jackpot has been reset at £250,000.

The £1.2 million payout is tax free under UK laws which do not tax gambling winnings on the basis that you cannot claim back losses on your tax return.

Bingo News will publish more details about the lucky winner when it is available to us.

Glen, who has been housebound for four years with spinal problems will use the money to pay for mobility equipment to help him get about and help out around the house and of course to spoil his wife and two young kids!

Crown Bingo’s very own CM Tunaman and CM Star visited Glen to congratulate him in person. “Congratulations on your big win Glen! We’re so pleased to see a Crown Bingo player hit the jackpot! It was brilliant meeting one of the Roomies and we wish Glen and his family the best of luck for the future!”

Lucky Ladies 88 is one of many side games on the site with a giant progressive jackpot! Login and play today for your chance to join Glen and become one of Crown Bingo’s big winners!

That’s all the information that the fortunate player was prepared to reveal after hitting five shamrocks for his £1 stake on the slots. It is believed to be the largest ever slots payout in the UK.

William Hill Bingo spokeswoman Jennie Prest said, “This is one chap who won’t be worrying about the credit crunch when it comes to buying his friends and family Christmas presents! The Clover Rollover jackpot has been growing and growing and once it hit £1.5million we were really excited about when it might be won. It’s been terrific to have that sort of payout up for grabs and hopefully the jackpot will grow to a similar amount again.”

Player Simon said: “I’m actually quite speechless, it is a bit of a shock. But this amount of money means so much, it’s truly life changing. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it all yet, just take a few deep breaths and have a think before I make any decisions.”

The Clover Rollover slot jackpot has been restarted at £100,000 and can be played at William Hill Bingo, Crown Bingo, Ladbrokes Bingo, Bet 365 Bingo and Sky Bingo – all sites on the Virtue Fusion network.

The player hit the progressive jackpot playing for a £5 stake when they hit five treasure chests and scooped the enormous prize pool.

The Pirate Plunder jackpot has now been reset at £12,000 and is expected to grow at around £3,000 per day.

Bet365 Bingo runs on Virtue Fusion software and players across the network of Virtue Fusion bingo contribute to the growth of their huge slots jackpots.