Bingo isn’t usually the first game that people think of when they envision big jackpots wins. However, this game does occasionally deliver some huge payouts.

Case in point, Scotland’s Soraya Lowell once collected £1,167,795 through a bingo game. She became the biggest bingo winner in history in the process.

Unfortunately, Lowell didn’t hang onto her windfall long afterward. I’m going to discuss more on her huge win along with why she blew through the fortune so quickly.

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Honoring a Partnership

Prior to making bingo history, Soraya Lowell worked for a cleaning company in Hamilton, Lanarkshire (near Glasgow). She frequently played bingo at the nearby Club 3000 in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.

Lowell visited this bingo hall with her neighbor, Agnes O’Neill. The two agreed to split any big winnings they might earn.

Their luck would come on a fateful night in March 2008. While playing “Top of the Shop 90,” Lowell hit the “bumper” payout.

Gambling partnerships don’t always work out as planned. Sometimes, a big winner will hide their jackpot or just flat-out refuse to honor any pre-arranged agreements.

Lowell, however, proved herself trustworthy by honoring the agreement with the 68-year-old O’Neill. She split the payment right down the middle with each side receiving £583,898.

Unsure About What to Do With the Money

Soraya didn’t earn quite enough to buy a yacht and sail off into the sunset. However, she did win the kind of money that would make one start considering retirement.

She was earning minimum wage for her cleaning job at the time. But Lowell also enjoyed the job and those she worked with.

“I really love my job and said right away I didn’t have any plans to leave,” stated Soraya.

While Lowell might have immediately decided to stick with her current job, she wasn’t sure what to do with the money.

“It’s easy to say what you’re going to do with the money before you win it,” she explained. “But in reality it’s very tough. I haven’t got the slightest idea what to do with it.”

Lowell was in the enviable position of not really needing the money at the time. She already had the house, car, and neighborhood that she wanted.

“I had bought a car just before I won, so I don’t need a new one and I love my house and my neighbors so moving is out of the question,” said Soraya. “[…] But for now, the money will be staying in the bank.”

Change of Heart

Soraya and her husband, Frankie, were initially responsible with their winnings. However, they eventually started spending Lowell’s windfall at a rapid rate

After previously saying she had the home of her dreams, Soraya decided to purchase a house worth £150,000. This decision didn’t initially seem like a bad idea when considering that she’d won well over half a million pounds before taxes.

The couple also purchased an ice cream truck in 2009. They’d hoped that the ice cream truck could turn into a lucrative business opportunity.

The bills began mounting, though, and creditors came calling. Soon, Soraya and Frankie couldn’t even pay their local taxes.

South Lanarkshire Council sued the couple for £13,214 in unpaid taxes in 2012. The council sent legal papers threatening that the Lowell’s would be sequestrated if they didn’t pay in a timely manner.

Soraya and Frankie also lost their four-bedroom home after falling behind on mortgage papers. The Bank of Scotland seized the house and put it up for a sheriff’s auction.

The couple met with South Lanarkshire Council’s debt advice service to work out their financial troubles. They also moved back into their old home, which hadn’t been sold yet.

The Lowell’s weren’t the only tragedy from this big bingo win. Agnes O’Neill, who’d received an equal £13 payout, passed away just two months after receiving her money.

O’Neill’s widow, John, found her dead in bed in July 2008. She didn’t get an opportunity to spend much of her bingo fortune.

Tips to Avoid Blowing a Gambling Jackpot

Things didn’t turn out well for Soraya Lowell financially despite collecting £583,898. But you can avoid repeating her mistakes after a big win by following the tips below.

Hire a Financial Advisor

Unless you’re a finance professional, you shouldn’t be managing six or seven figures on your own. Instead, the better route is to look for a financial advisor.

The latter can help you determine the best ways to spend your money over the long run. They can also talk you out of making impulse purchases that’ll quickly drain your money.

If the prize is big enough, you might consider hiring other professionals too. For example, a lawyer can help you avoid getting entangled in frivolous lawsuits from those who want a chunk of your cash.

Pay Off Credit Cards & Other Debts

Your first thought shouldn’t be what dream car or house you want to purchase. Instead, you should be thinking about how to reduce your debt.

Credit cards are the best place to start. You want to banish these high-interest-bearing debts immediately.

From here, you’ll strongly want to consider getting rid of student loans, a mortgage, car payments, and anything else that’s a long-term burden.

Don’t Brag About Your Win

You don’t want to boast about winning a huge gambling prize. Otherwise, you’ll suddenly have second and third cousins coming out of the woodwork asking for loans.

You might feel the need to tell close family members and friends. But you definitely shouldn’t post anything about your prize on social media.

Additionally, you also want to consider the unwanted press that gambling wins bring. Soraya Lowell might have been on cloud nine when she first spoke to British media.

However, I’m sure that she didn’t enjoy having her financial troubles become page-one news four years later. If you don’t want to be in the press, then you should keep your win as private as possible.

Avoid Rash Decisions

Going back to Soraya again, she initially made a smart decision by not spending her money too quickly. However, she threw all caution out the window after buying an ice cream truck and an expensive home.

The best option after winning big is to take your time when making decisions. Even a seven-figure prize can quickly vanish if you’re not strategic in spending it.

You might also want to keep your day job in the meantime. The last thing you want to do is immediately quit and transition to full-time money-spender.

Don’t Make Drastic Lifestyle Changes

Continuing off the last point, you should also avoid the temptation to completely change how you live. If monthly Caribbean vacations and sports cars weren’t part of your previous life, then they shouldn’t immediately enter the equation after winning.

Drastic changes like these can quickly go from splurges to becoming permanent. However, you stand a better chance of making good decisions by continuing to live the same way—at least for a while anyways.

Prepare for an Emotional Struggle

Winning a big gambling prize seems like a dream that’ll solve all of life’s problems. However, you can read about curses and horror stories regarding progressive slots and lottery wins to find out this isn’t always the case.

Not every result from winning is desirable. People may want loans, scammers will come, and (unwarranted) lawsuits could be leveled.

Charities and strangers with sob stories may also hound you over a piece of the winnings. Therefore, you must prepare for the stress of success if your story ever does go public.

Conclusion

Thanks to her £1.17 million prize, Soraya Lowell still stands as history’s biggest bingo winner. However, she’s also infamous for blowing all of her winnings.

To be fair, she did honor a previous arrangement with Agnes O’Neill by splitting the payout 50/50. But Soraya then proceeded to go through the remaining £583,898 in quick fashion.

You may never have to worry about winning and managing this kind of money. If you ever do, though, then you’ll want to follow sound advice in keeping your fortune.

The first step involves hiring professionals to help you navigate through the money management process. You should also keep your win as quiet as possible to avoid attracting beggars.

With over 3 million people playing bingo regularly just in the UK and jackpots growing to record levels, it should come as no surprise to learn that there have been some big winners in the bingo stakes. Most prizes at bingo halls are small and consist of a pot made by the amount of people entering each bingo game. However, when you move online and in particular play linked games run by major bingo brands over a number of sites, then the prizes become larger. Then factor in the progressive jackpots that continuously grow and what you have is a recipe for some lucky individual to win life-changing amounts of money when you discover bingo sites that pay reward handsomely.

John Orchard

One of the biggest ever bingo winners is former factory worker John Orchard. At the time of his win he was working at his local Job Centre. One day he played just 30p at an online bingo site and became the world’s biggest ever online winner of all time. Orchard won a staggering £5.9 million and wasted no time in making his dreams a reality. It didn’t take long before holidays were booked and a Jaguar XF was arriving at the front of his house. Orchard treated his friends and family and brought a new house in Lincolnshire where he lives in happy retirement with his wife.

Georgios M

The second biggest ever jackpot win was landed by online bingo player Georgios M. This Greek gentleman has kept a low profile since winning, but what is known about the businessman is that he was only 36 years old when he won his fortune.

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Lisa Potter

Biggest Bingo Win Ever

Lisa Potter managed to bag herself £1.3 million from a £5 bingo bet. Aged 33 at the time, Lisa was shocked when an online bingo flutter made her a millionaire. Since her big win, Lisa has purchased a new car, gone on luxury holidays and is the proud owner of a new house.

Soraya Lowell

During the winter of 2008, Lowell from South Lanarkshire went from cleaning house to a millionaire thanks to a bingo jackpot win of £1.2 million. At just 38, she decided to split her fortune with her bingo partner and neighbour Agnes O’Neil. Unfortunately O’Neil died from illness just a few weeks after she received the generous gift and Lowell got divorced soon after. In 2012 Lowell filed for bankruptcy but she still remains the UK’s biggest ever in-house bingo winner.

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Christine Bradfield

A month before Lowell won her jackpot, Christine Bradfield held the record for the biggest in-house bingo winner the UK had seen thanks to a £1.1 million jackpot win. Bradford had been visiting The Castle Club in Wales, like she had done for over a decade, when she hit the jackpot. January 27th 2008 will always be a special date in the life of the 53 year-old mother of two. The fortune came from £16 pounds worth of bingo tickets and the rest as they say, is now history.

Photo via Pixabay.