Mega million pound Mecca bingo win can’t buy happiness
- 15 Oct 09
- Written by Charlotte Widmore
Most online bingo or bingo hall players who won £1m playing at Mecca Bingo would use the money to make a better life for themselves or their nearest and dearest. Not so for a family who were admittedly at the start overjoyed when a close family member won a Mecca Bingo jackpot of £1m, the four ladies concerned who loved playing bingo had an agreement that if one of them won they all won and that any bingo jackpots would be split equally between them. When Jean McCullagh the eldest of the four won the Mecca Bingo megabucks jackpot at the Forge bingo hall in Glasgow, all four celebrated with champagne, however the initial happiness of the other three ladies was quickly extinguished when they found that Jean was not good for her word and would not be sharing her winnings.
Jean’s sister Margaret along with Rose and Jessie who are sisters-in-law to the two then decided to sue to obtain their ‘rightful’ share of the massive Mecca Bingo win. Fast forward two years and with the possibility of forking out £200,000 in legal fees the four women have allegedly agreed to settle outside of court. The decision by Jean to settle has been brought about as she risked ending up penniless, losing every penny of her Mecca Bingo win if she lost the case. The story featured in the Scottish Daily Record tells the sad story of the four families torn apart because of their ‘lucky’ win. The husbands of the four women (three of them brothers), have also fallen out because of the Mecca Bingo win, two of them declaring that Jean’s husband John was ‘dead to them’.
None of the members of the family wished to discuss the out of court settlement with the reporter of the Scottish Daily Record, except John who said “The family will never be the same, I guess, and the whole matter should have been sorted out happily on the night of the win.” Two people have added comments on the Daily Record website in response to the story, one of which says cryptically “Shame the record can’t get it’s story straight & only listens to one side of the tale. Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story …. ehh !!”. So is the story of the family torn apart by a big Mecca Bingo win true? Let Bingo Hideout know if you have anything to add, we would love to hear another side to this story.