Dubai: A Filipino engineer just couldn’t believe his luck and admitted to feeling astounded upon being declared the winner of the Dh1 million cash prize in the annual ‘Al Ansari Rewards – Summer Promotion 2017’ on Wednesday.
Al Dizon Bansil, 43, a resident based in Sharjah, is the fourth millionaire to win big in the annual promotion of Al Ansari Exchange, which ran from June 15 to August 14.
“I was at work when I received the call that I was pre-qualified for the grand draw. Then when the grand draw was being held earlier, I was really nervous. I prayed to win… and I did,” Bansil, a quantity surveyor who has been in the UAE for 11 years, told Gulf News.
“I badly wanted to win because this is a chance of a lifetime. It’s definitely going to change my life and my family’s life,” he added, still struggling for words.
The father of one plans to go home for a short vacation to celebrate the win with his family in Pampanga.
“I don’t know what to do with the money [nearly 14 million pesos] yet,” he said, “I don’t want to think of it for now. My priority is to go home to be with my family for this special occasion.”
Bansil’s winning raffle ticket came from a remittance of Dh3,677 sent to his wife back home. He said he regularly remits a similar amount to support his family.
Another lucky Filipino, Sylvia Lizardo Valdez, won a brand new Nissan Patrol at the gala ceremony in Dubai, which also saw eight other lucky winners go home with Dh10,000 each.
Bansil was one of the nine qualifiers who entered the final draw. The list of other qualifiers include Kudzai Lisa Mhondoro from Zimbabwe, Taurej Alam from India, Saif Rashid from the UAE, Alamgir Jaru Miah from Bangladesh, Al Shazly Abdul Hafeez Mohamadin from Egypt, Minimon Kassim Kunju from India, Abdullah Taher Al Ganem from Saudi Arabia and Mohammad Yaqoob from Pakistan, each of whom won Dh10,000.
During the two-month promotion period, Al Ansari Exchange customers were able to enter the draw through a range of transactions. Rashid Ali Al Ansari, General Manager of Al Ansari Exchange, said: “We extend our congratulations to Al Dizon for bagging this year’s Dh1 million prize — the biggest prize to be offered by this industry segment. I am sure this jackpot will be put to good use by Bansil — forever changing his life.”
