Abu Dhabi: Ten lucky winners became millionaires on Wednesday after hitting the jackpot, with each winner taking home Dh1 million after their tickets were picked for the Big Ticket raffle draw.
The monthly draw, which is held in Abu Dhabi, has become one of the country’s most popular raffle draws, with participants from all around the country taking part in the hopes of becoming a millionaire. This month’s edition was also bigger than usual, with 10 separate raffle draws taking place.
Allwyn Kumar, an Indian expatriate who works at an automobile shop in Sharjah, was among the 10 winners with his winning ticket number 078753.
“I am so excited and happy that I won. I was eagerly following the updates online and hoping for a phone call, the funny thing is that when I was called, I was away from my phone and so I missed the call the first time. The organisers then called me back and I answered, and I was so thrilled when they said that I was one of the winners,” he said.
“This wasn’t the first time that I bought a ticket, I have taken part around 10 times, so finally I got lucky and I won,” he added.
Kumar, who has a wife and three children living back home in India, said he wants to use the money to start a business, and to use the profits to help people.
“My plan is to open a business, and to help the needy people and orphans with the business profits. I learnt this from my father and so I want to carry on that example.
“I am living a normal lifestyle, I have everything that I need, a family, a job, and so I don’t plan to use this money for extravagant things,” he added.
Preetha Rajaiah Udaykumar, also from India and working as an office manager in Dubai, was a winner thanks to ticket number 026285.
“I was initially shocked when I found out that I have won. It took some time for me to digest,” she said.
“Once I took it all in, I was very happy and excited, it’s very nice news and a very nice day now,” she added.
Udaykumar, who is married, says that she and her husband will save the money for their future.
“There are no big plans, we want to invest the money to secure our future, and in the meantime to just get on with life.”
Udaykumar also sounded some advice to other millionaire hopefuls, “There’s no need to give up or be disappointed, you never know when the luck will hit you. I never expected it to be my time but I still got the good news.”
The other eight winners
Anil Puthenveettil, India
Saravanan Sundaresan, India
Adeel Taj, Pakistan
Rishit Mehta, India
Parvez Patgaonkar, India
Jayalakshmi Jayaraj, India
Ebrahim Kunju Nazeer, India
Mohammad Nasr Ali Siddiqui, Pakistan
