Lorry driver and friends share Dh12 million Big Ticket grand prize
A group of friends are sharing Dh12 million after scooping the grand prize in the Big Ticket weekly draw in Abu Dhabi.
Ajman resident Mujeeb Chirathodi bought ticket number 229710 for Dh500 online.
He split the cost of the ticket with nine friends from India and Bangladesh. Each of them will take home about Dh1.2 million ($327,000).
Mr Chirathodi, 49, a lorry driver from India, said he first learnt about the Big Ticket draw when he saw an advert on YouTube.
Since then he has bought a ticket for the draw every month with his friends, in the hope of one day hitting the jackpot.
“I really needed the money and finally I won after trying for more than a year,” he said, after the raffle organisers called to inform him of his bumper win.
He was filling his lorry with fuel after finishing work for the day when he received the call that changed his life.
Four winners took home cash prizes in the latest draw. They ranged between Dh50,000 and the staggering Dh12m jackpot.
Indian resident Viswanathan Balalubramanian won Dh1m, Jayaprakash Nair bagged Dh100,000 and Jordanian resident Ibrahim Freihat secured Dh50,000.
Another lucky winner, Saad Ullah Malik, from Pakistan, won a BMW 430i car in Tuesday’s Big Ticket draw, the region’s largest and longest-running raffle that offers people the chance to win cash prizes and luxury cars.
Participants in this month’s draw have the chance to win a jackpot prize of Dh20m.
The second prize in this month’s draw is Dh1m. Buying a ticket also gives contestants a chance to win a weekly cash prize of Dh500,000.
The four dates on which the weekly draw will be made are May 9, 17, 25 and June 1.