Abu Dhabi/Dubai: Gulf News employee, George Mathews, and his five friends, who won the Dh12 million Big Ticket Abu Dhabi raffle yesterday, almost didn’t buy the winning ticket. He said they purchased the ticket at midnight on August 30 when one among the six friends convinced others to buy it.
Mathews, who has been in the UAE for nine years and who works for Gulf News as a printing technician, has been buying the ticket with his friends for the last four months, but none of them thought lady luck would smile on them. So much so, that when Mathews got a call from the raffle organisers yesterday, he thought it was a prank call.
“I didn’t even know the draw was happening today. I was taking my pregnant wife to hospital for a scheduled appointment at 10.30am when I got the call. When the lady told me about the win, I hung up thinking it was a prank call. Then I started getting calls from friends. I realised it was true only when my friends who are sharing the prize confirmed the news,” said Mathews, who will keep his share of Dh2m with the rest split equally among the five other winners.
The Dream 12 Million Raffle Draw Series 195 was announced yesterday morning at the Abu Dhabi International Airport’s arrivals hall at 10am. This was the third biggest ever jackpot of the Dh12 million Big Ticket raffle in Abu Dhabi.
The six friends, all hailing from southern Indian state of Kerala, have been buying raffle tickets since May, when they first purchased the Big Ticket online, availing the buy-two-get one-free offer.
Since then, they have purchased raffles every month, twice from Dubai Duty Free and the latest just four days back from Big Ticket Abu Dhabi.
“When one of our group members sent screenshots of raffle numbers on WhatsApp all the friends asked me to pick a number, I was hesitant since I had never won anything in life. But when everyone insisted, I just randomly picked the first number on the list and that proved lucky,” said Dilip PU, one of the six members who will share the prize from the winning ticket number 175342.
The group of friends who have known each other since they first came to Dubai almost a decade back, were together yesterday afternoon, still unable to believe their luck.
“It has still not sunk in. It is simply incredible. I can’t believe we have won Dh12 million after we almost didn’t buy the ticket. It was a last-minute decision, because earlier we had decided that we will not buy in August,” said Krishanraj KP, who convinced his friends to purchase the tickets.
- George Mathews | Printing technician
Though, it is still too early for them to decide on what they will do with the money, one thing they are sure of, which is to help fellow Keralites who have been affected by massive floods back home.
The winners have decided to donate a portion of their prize money to help Kerala flood victims who have lost everything in the devastating catastrophe.
“We have plans to help the affected people back home because a lot of people have been affected by the worst flood we have seen in Kerala and thousands of people are still in need of help,” said Lijo Dominic, one of the winners.
Satheesh Nair, another member of the group, said that all the friends have their personal dreams and individual plans, but it is still too early to say anything.
“It has to sink in. It will take time. Of course everyone dreams of becoming a millionaire and when we come to Dubai we all have a goal of making money and building a house back home. I think we are very close to achieving that goal now,” said Nair.
Nair added that he was planning to get a loan to build a house, but there will be no need of any loan, now that he has won Dh2 million.
Interestingly, all the six friends say they will continue with their jobs and have no plans of quitting.
“I don’t think any of us will quit. We all have good jobs and we will continue to work. There is no need to do anything in a hurry or change the way we live. We will continue to be the same persons,” said Mathews, who is expecting his first child in November and believes baby luck has shone on him.
The winners may not be certain about future plans, but one thing they are certain to do and that is to buy the next raffle ticket.
“You never know, we might be lucky again,” said Rijesh PK, another member of the group.
The grand prize
This was the third grand prize of Big Ticket Abu Dhabi, with the first happening in January this year, followed by the second one in April.
In January, an Indian expatriate Hari Krishnan became a multimillionaire after winning Dh12 million, the jackpot of Big Ticket raffle in Abu Dhabi.
Krishnan’s third Big Ticket in his over 15 years of stay in the country proved to be the biggest New Year gift for his family.
In April, another Indian expatriate John Varughese, a Dubai-based driver from Kerala won Dh12 million.
Big Ticket is the largest and longest-running monthly raffle draw for cash prizes and dream luxury cars in Abu Dhabi.
The tickets can be purchased online or at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Al Ain Duty Free and City Terminal Abu Dhabi.
Tickets are priced at Dh500, with those buying two tickets getting the third free, under a promotional scheme run by the organisers.
