ITS residents may not realise it, but a North-East town is one of the luckiest in Britain.

Washington is at number three for the biggest bingo cash wins in the UK.

The town's residents had five big wins, with the winning players picking up £407,000.

The luckiest town is Oldham, in Lancashire, where the town's sole bingo hall paid out six big bingo wins in only five days in January. Players won £398,000, with two £51,000 prizes the same day.

Gloucester came second, while Middlesbrough came tenth.

One Middlesbrough bingo hall paid out £298,000 to players in the past 12 months. That included two wins of £101,000 and one of £96,000.

But Gateshead is one of the unluckiest towns, registering one win in the past year.

The National Bingo Game Association (NGA) calculated the figures on the number of wins of more than £10,000.

NGA spokesman Steve Baldwin said: "We had 535 winners last year, each wining an average £75,000. The National Game is played 364 days a year and the prize fund is about £100,000 a night."