Big Ticket: Family reunion, new house among plans of 4 expats in UAE who won Dh100,000 each

Abu Dhabi: Four expats have each won Dh100,000 in the second Big Ticket weekly e-draw for August.

Indian expat Manoj Murjani, a 47-year-old resident of Ajman, who works in retail, has been buying Big Ticket for seven years in a row without missing a single month. The winner of Dh100,000 said: “I am happy, I am jumping, I want to dance. I always believed I would win one day.”

When asked about his plans, he said: “The first thing that came to my mind after learning about my win was my four year-old daughter who has been wishing to come to Dubai. Whenever I call my family back home, my daughter asks me when she can come to Dubai.”

New house

Another winner, Bangladeshi expat Abdul Motaleb, currently residing in Fujairah, has been purchasing Big Ticket for the past three years. This decision came after his group of friends, who previously used to buy tickets together, asked him to leave the group as they no longer wished to buy with him. Consequently, he began purchasing the tickets on his own every month.

Abdul Motaleb said: ‘I am going to use the prize money to build a house in Bangladesh for my family. I also want to provide food for those in need. In our culture, giving food to others brings blessings, especially for my parents who passed away. I wanted to do this for my parents who passed away, but I did not have money back then.’’

Another Indian expat, Girish Advani, a 48-year-old father of two children living in Dubai, started buying Big Ticket the past four months on his own after hearing about it from his colleague.

“I was surprised when I received the call. I did not expect to win. I sent a screenshot of the Big Ticket web page with my name to my wife, as she didn’t believe me,” he said.

“I am so happy. I am still in shock. I don’t know yet what I will do with my prize; it’s a good start and a good amount of money.”

Settling debts

Bahraini expat Ali Ali, a 47-year-old cabin crew member living in Dubai also won Dh100,000.

“It is my first-ever win, but I hope it is just the start of bigger ones... I will pay my debts and save the rest of the prize,’’ he said.

Customers of Big Ticket who purchase raffle tickets during the month of August are automatically entered into one of the weekly electronic draws that will see four winners walk away with Dh100,000 every week. Anyone who purchases tickets during the promotion dates will also stand the chance to win the Dh20 million grand prize on September 3.