A lottery syndicate made up of Welsh bingo players won a share of the jackpot in the 6th September National Lottery Lotto draw.  The syndicate was made up of 28 players who will each share in the £737,319 win.

The lucky winners come from Quakers Yard near Merthyr Tydfil and the syndicate is made up of 26 women and 2 men aged between 33 and 78.  Jeanette Harris is the leader of the syndicate with the responsibility of collecting the players’ money, buying the tickets and checking the numbers each week.

Apparently though, according to the lottery.co.uk website she wasn’t the one to discover that the syndicate had won.

She said, “I usually check the syndicate’s tickets on a Saturday night, but I was making arrangements to go out with a friend at the time and thought it could wait until I arrived home later that night.  One of my friends from bingo called and was screaming at me in excitement to check our numbers.  From then on it all became a bit of a blur and I was numb with shock.

That night a few of the syndicate came to my house to celebrate, but the real celebrations took place on Monday night when we all got together for our weekly bingo session.  It was lovely to have everyone share the excitement.”

The syndicate are deserving of their win as they have been playing bingo to help raise cash to pay for the building of a new community centre in their village.  The project has been helped by funding from the National Lottery.

Jeanette is a 58 year-old factory worker and all of the winning group have lived modest lives when it comes to money, living in an area regarded as one of the poorest in the UK.  She said, “All of us have worked very hard over the years and the money will mean so much to everyone.  A lot of the group are retired, so it will be a welcome addition to everyone, but most of all it will ensure peace of mind for the future.”

The syndicate’s win of £737,319 will be shared equally among its 28 members, with each player receiving £26,332.