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Dubai: Retired Dubai Police official Khalifa Al Muhairi thought he would try his luck when he bought his first Dubai Duty Free $1 million raffle ticket after six years of giving up on lotteries.
"I was in a meeting when I got the call. The lady told me that I had won $1 million and I told her to find someone else to play a joke on because I was busy," said the 53-year-old.
Al Muhairi said he had lost hope in winning the draw after years of trying. He had thrown away his ticket soon after buying it and forgotten about it until that fateful day. But Al Muhairi is no typical winner, as the $1 million did not exactly change his life. "I gave Dh100,000 to each of my three siblings and put the rest in investments for the future of my nine children," he said.
There was nothing he had desperately wanted which he could use the new money for, but he has decided to use the money for one more purpose before forgetting about it.
"I want to build a mosque in my grandfather's name in either Indonesia or the Philippines. I've been there and in some parts of those countries Muslims are forced to worship in rooms in buildings," he said.
Al Muhairi bought his draw ticket online. "I wanted to choose a number that had 888 in it because that's my lucky number. They didn't have that so I settled for 88," he said. Soon after, he learned the number 88 was just as good.
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