Another Keralite hits jackpot, wins Rs 1.78 Cr lottery in Abu Dhabi Big Ticket Draw

Another Keralite has won the 'Big Ticket Draw' held at Abu Dhabi International Airport. He is the third person to win the lottery this year.

Abhaya Kumar Vennarathil Krishnan, 49, couldn't believe the news when he got the phone call. "I didn't believe when I got a call and thought that somebody is joking with me. But when I got a second call from the organisers, I was pleasantly shocked," Krishnan told Gulf News. 

Krishnan has been living in Abu Dhabi since 1994 and is a purchasing manager at Spinneys’. He has been buying the ticket regularly for the last ten years, and this is the first time he has won the prize. “I had bought the ticket, but I didn’t know that today is the draw date,” said Krishnan.

He will share the money with a friend as they bought the ticket together. Krishnan plans to spend some portion of the money in charity for poor people’s education in Kerala.

Also read: Kerala man wins Rs 12 crore jackpot in UAE

Sundaran Nalamkandathil, 47, bought the ticket with a group of 20 people. “My niece’s wedding is in December, so I am very delighted to win this prize at this time,” said Nalamkandathil, a jewellery designer living in Ajman for the last 24 years.

The winners will get a whopping 1 million dirhams amounting to ₹17817257.87 Crores. The 'Big Ticket Draw' held at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Thursday is the largest and longest-running monthly raffle draw for cash prizes and dream luxury cars in the UAE capital.

Another winner, 26-year-old Kishore Kumar Reddy Beesireddygari from India, said, “I was pleasantly shocked when I heard the great news. “Now my dream of having a home in India will be materialised. I will also pay off my loan of Dh80,000 from a Dubai bank,” Reddy said who is an optometrist in Dubai.

Read more: Rs 12.2 crore Abu Dhabi lottery winner returns to Kochi, does not claim prize

“My friend introduced me to Big Ticket a year back, so I also started trying my luck and it shined on me today,” he said. Reddy bought the ticket in sharing with three other people who will share the prize money. “So I will get Dh250,000 from this. “This money is going to make a big difference in the lives of four of us friends. It means a great support to us,” he said.

Chandresh Motivaras, 43, from India also bought the ticket with four others for the first time. “Currently, I don’t have any plans for investments, but once I receive the money, I would plan.
“I am excited,” he said, who is a chief accountant with a jewellery group in Dubai. Motivaras has lived in Dubai from 2005. 

Besides Indians, the winners include a Canadian man and a Filipina, the only woman on the list.

The grand prize winners were picked by the previous draw’s grand prize winners. The draw was held at the arrivals hall of Abu Dhabi International Airport. Big Ticket is the largest and longest-running monthly raffle draw for cash prizes and dream luxury cars in Abu Dhabi.