A SOUTHAMPTON man is "ecstatic and shocked" after winning the life-changing £171,546 winning jackpot at a local bingo club on Wednesday.

Gareth Bedford, 30, was playing bingo with his dad Peter Bedford and sister Claire Kassimy when he unexpectedly won the rollover jackpot on the number 55.

He thought he had won £2,500 at Buzz Bingo Antelope Park in Southampton after scoring the double number but was over the moon to find he had actually won a much larger sum of money, which is the largest jackpot anyone has won since the club first launched in September 2018.

Initially planning to spend his day at Salisbury races but deciding to visit the club instead - due to the rainy weather - regular bingo player Gareth was lucky enough to win after the club experienced 32 days without a winner.

This comes despite a double number jackpot usually being won at least once a week, where players must say they have a full house on a double number, for example, if they land on an 11 or 22.

Gareth is the third person to take home a double number jackpot prize, following a £12,364.38 win and £11,960.38 win which both took place in July.

Mr Bedford 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.

He added: "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.

"I will be sharing half of the winnings with my dad and splitting the other half with my sister. We’d like to share a huge thanks to the Buzz Bingo team - Paula and the rest of the staff made us feel like royalty and we enjoyed an impromptu party in-club immediately after the win."

General Manager at Buzz Bingo’s Southampton Antelope Park club Paula Joynson said: "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. We are very much looking forward to celebrating Gareth’s win with our other members at our party night at the end of the month."

To celebrate, Buzz Bingo plan to host a party for club members at the Antelope Park club on Burlesdon Road on Saturday August 31 at 6.45pm.