Dubai/Abu Dhabi: Arlene, a Filipina sales promoter has turned into a multi-millionaire overnight after winning the whopping Dh10-million ($2.7 million) grand prize at the recent Super Saturday Draws by Mahzooz.
Arlene, 40, who has been living in Abu Dhabi for 12 years, met reporters on Wednesday during the ceremonial turnover of her cheque. Arlene is the second Filipino expatriate to become a multi-millionaire overnight this year.
In late January, Filipino expatriate and store manager Russel Reyes Tuazon, 34, won Dh15 million in another raffle draw.
According to Mahzooz, five Filipinos, including Arlene, have become multi-millionaires since the inception of Mahzooz draw in 2021.
Lady luck smiled on Arlene when she won the Mahzooz 117th Super Saturday draw. The bumper win turns the part-time promoter into a multi-millionaire. Mahzooz (Arabic for "lucky") is the UAE’s leading weekly live draw with the biggest and most frequent pay-out.
Arlene's husband picked the five numbers that ended up earning her Dh10,000,000 (about $2.7 million).
Her lucky numbers were 9, 10, 13, 28, 29 and these numbers hold a significance in Arlene’s life as they are all family and personal occasions related.
Five Filipino Mahzooz millionaires
With this latest win, Mahzooz, which has given away more than Dh376,000,000 in prize money over two years, would be celebrating its 32nd millionaire, five of whom, are Filipinos.
Despite not having a fixed income, the sales promoter, jointly with her hardworking merchandiser husband are the main bread winners of both her family.
Sleepless for 2 days
Being in charge of bringing in the lion's share of income to financially support both families, Arlene sees this unexpected windfall as an overwhelmingly welcome gift from God, which left her totally stupefied.
Upon learning of her newfound fortune, an emotional Arlene said: “I have not been able to sleep for two days after hearing my husband tell me about the email, I got from Mahzooz informing me of my win. I only had Dh17 in my bank account and my husband went out and deposited an additional Dh20 into my account so that I could purchase the last week’s bottle of water for Dh35.
Shock win
“Even when my husband selected the numbers as he always does, I was only hoping to win the Dh100,000, but I was shocked when I saw the email stating I won 'Dh10,000,000 grand prize'. I counted the zeros so many times.”
While still contemplating how to utilise the money diligently, Arlene is sure that together with her husband, they would like to use the prize money to build two houses for their respective families and give a part of it to charities back home, delivering on her promise to God.
On February 22, three women from the Philippines living in the UAE were revealed as the winners of Dh100,000 after equally sharing the weekly raffle prize of Dh300,000 on February 18 in the Mahzooz 116th Super Saturday Draw.
“Filipinos come second in both participation and winners in Mahzooz, as around 50,000 winners have cashed about Dh62,000,000 in total prizes over the past two years,” said Farid Samji, CEO of EWINGS, Managing Operator of Mahzooz.
“Between 2021 and 2022, four winners from the Philippines became millionaires and began living the good life Mahzooz offers. We are thrilled to welcome another woman to our millionaire league, especially after the three Filipino women raffle draw winners, we had last week,” Samji told media guests at the press conference organised to introduce the new winner.
The 117th Super Saturday Draws saw a total of 1,345 participants cashing Dh11,756,050 in total prize money.
The second prize of Dh1,000,000 went to 38 winners who matched four out of five numbers, taking home Dh26,315 each.
Furthermore, 1,303 winners matched three out of five numbers and won Dh350 each. Like every week, three raffle draw winners earned Dh100,000 each.
Super Saturday Draws
The Super Saturday Draws require participants to pick 5 out of 49 numbers for a chance to win the top prize of Dh10,000,000, the second prize of Dh1,000,000, or the third prize of Dh350.
Participants will also be automatically entered into the raffle draw in which three guaranteed winners will each receive Dh100,000.
The last Fantastic Friday Epic Draw requires participants to choose 6 numbers out of 39 for a chance to win AED 10,000,000.
Lucky
Mahzooz means ‘fortunate’ or ‘lucky’ in Arabic and is the GCC's first weekly live draw that offers participants a life-changing opportunity with millions to be won every week. Mahzooz is dedicated to making people’s dreams come true and giving back to the community.
Entrants can participate in Mahzooz by registering via www.mahzooz.ae and purchasing a bottle of water for Dh35, which enables them to enter multiple draws, the last Fantastic Friday Epic Draw and the Super Saturday Draws, by choosing two different set of numbers.
