ALMOST 40 years of playing bingo has finally paid off for a Fife pensioner after she scooped £100,000 at a club in Glenrothes last week, it has emerged.

The 74-year-old great-grandmother, who is understood to be from Kirkcaldy, was playing at the Gala Club in Flemington Road last Friday when she struck it lucky in the National Bingo Game.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, claimed the national prize of £100,000 plus the house prize of £200 after completing a full house in 41 numbers—the lowest call in any of the 500 clubs playing simultaneously nationwide that evening.

Now the lucky winner said she is delighted to be able to treat her family—consisting of six children, 14 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren with another on the way—with the money, although she admitted she hasn’t made any plans yet to spend the windfall on herself.

“I’ve never had a lot of money and I still don’t know what I’ll spend it on, but it’s just nice to know it’s there if I see something I want,” she said.

The woman, who plays her favourite game twice a week with the friends she has made at the club, also revealed she had been stunned into silence when it dawned on her how much she had won.

“I sat there not speaking—I was so shocked,” she said. “Everybody in the club was pleased for me but I didn’t feel anything—I was numb.”

But she concluded, “I’m very happy now, though.”