How a raffle winner lost her fortune
48-year-old resident on whom lady luck smiled twice in a span of three years is down to her last penny
In a span of three years, Lisa (name changed) had struck it big in raffle draws, scooping hundreds of thousands of dirhams worth of prizes. The hospital nurse from the Philippines bagged the keys to a brand-new car during a shopping mall draw in 2013 and in October 2017, she hit the Dh1 million jackpot in the Big Ticket in Abu Dhabi.
Now, about a year after the millionaire draw the separated mother of three barely has money in the bank. She has loans to pay and no car to take her to work. “If I lose my job today, I would survive for only two months,” the 48-year-old said.
Lisa is one of many UAE-based expatriates who dream of striking a fortune overnight and having their lives changed with a few lucky numbers. She had been a regular buyer of lottery tickets before she hit the jackpot.
Last year’s prize was the biggest she’s ever won, and though it was Dh1 million, she pocketed only Dh200,000 or roughly 2.8 million Philippine pesos at the latest exchange rates because she had purchased the ticket with some of her colleagues and friends.
Still, she was over the moon because her share of the winnings was big enough for a family breadwinner with loans to pay and no savings to dip into.
How it all went away
However, the windfall didn’t last very long for Lisa. Neither did it solve all of her life’s financial problems. In about a year, the Dh200,000 lump sum was reduced to about Dh10,000.
After receiving her share of the Dh1 million fortune last year, Lisa immediately set aside 10 per cent of it to charity. She had prayed so hard for the heavens to let her win the jackpot, so it’s just a way of giving back. “That’s also exactly what I did when I won a car year earlier,” she said.
And since she had a lot of workmates who got excited about the win, Lisa and her colleagues decided to have a big lunch with everyone in the four-storey hospital, from doctors to nurses – all 200 of them.
“There were also cleaners who missed the big meal, so I also offered them a small treat.”
About two months later, she booked the whole family a three-day Christmas holiday in Singapore. She also splurged on a separate round-trip ticket to Europe for her teen daughter.
Ailing mother
A huge chunk of the funds went to the medical expenses of her mother who had cancer. “She was my motivation why I joined in lottery draws in the first place. It was an answered prayer”.
Some of it also went to the repayment of the loans she had incurred in her home country and towards the improvement of her house, where her family is currently living.
“I tried to keep some cash as much as I could for emergencies. But recently, I suffered a stroke and was forced to stop working for three months. I ended up dipping into my personal pockets to pay the bills for one month,” she said.
“The hospital I work for only granted me a two-month paid leave and in the third month, I was not receiving a salary, as it is the company policy,” she added.
Eventually, the funds that Lisa won dwindled further, as she had no other source of income, no investment or someone else to run to for financial help. “So, right now, only 5 per cent of the Dh200,000 is left. That will be enough to sustain me for two months if I don’t have a job,” she added.
What happened to the car?
So what became of the brand-new car she had won earlier?
“I sold the Volkswagen for Dh128,000 and used the money for my mother’s medical expenses,” she said.
She, however, maintained that she has no regrets with regard to how she managed her fortune. Although there are hardly any funds left and her life didn’t change significantly, she’s grateful that she went through that once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Indeed, I’ve had a lot of expenses in a short period of time. But at least I managed to invest part of it in my house.”