• Home
• /
• UAE

Dubai: 25 workers who won $1 million hit another jackpot

Dubai - Palakkal belongs to the same group of 25 employees of the school transport company who won $1 million under his colleague’s name.

Just a little over a month ago, Jayan Palakkal and his colleagues were jumping for joy as they hit the million-dollar jackpot in the Dubai Duty Free (DDF) Millennium Millionaire draw. On Wednesday, the unbelievable happened: The same group won again.

Even after their big win on March 21, Palakkal and his colleagues at a school transport company continued buying DDF tickets. As luck would have it, the latest Finest Surprise draw saw the same group win a BMW 760Li xDrive.

Also read: Dubai Duty Free raffle: 2 new millionaires announced

“I was busy at work. I have many responsibilities as I work as a Senior Transport Officer. I disconnected the first call and then when my colleague kept calling me incessantly, I picked it up. He informed me about this win. This is the second big win in a month’s time!” Palakkal exclaimed.

While their first lucky ticket was under his colleague’s name, the second one was under his. “So, it felt really special. It’s my first win under my name,” said the 51-year-old Sharjah resident.

The first thing he did was call up his 87-year-old mother. “It’s said that a mother’s blessing is invaluable. I was extremely excited. Then, I called up my wife and daughter. They were also very happy,” he said.

A UAE resident for 26 years now, Palakkal and his colleagues have been buying DDF tickets for almost a decade now. They never thought they would win twice.

Splitting the first $1-million prize was easy, as they just had to divide the amount among themselves. But this time, with the BMW prize, a longer discussion is needed, he said.

“It will also be divided equally. But we need to sit together and discuss what needs to be done exactly.”

Asked what he would do with the money, Palakkal said: “The Covid-19 situation has impacted jobs and lives adversely, so I want to spend the money judiciously. I’d like to utilise my share of money for my daughter’s university education and keep some funds for our future.”

Similarly, Dean Post was ecstatic to share some good news with his wife this morning. The 53-year-old South African national based in Dubai, who works for a shipping company, has won a Mercedes Benz GLE 53 4M AMG.

On receiving the call, he was in complete disbelief. “I got the call from Dubai Duty Free and at first had thought it was a prank call. Then it started sinking in and what a pleasant surprise it was. I had bought the ticket online but hadn’t expected I would win it this time. But I have to admit, my wife who was with me when I received the call was overjoyed”, said the Dubai resident of 14 years.

"I had bought a few tickets in the past as well but hadn’t won anything big. Therefore, today when I received the call at first I was a bit suspicious. I think I am going to keep the prize”, said Post laughingly.

“I’d definitely like to share this news with my colleagues soon. It does feel like a silver lining in these trying (Covid) times.”

Meanwhile, Hafeezur Rahman, an Indian national from Karnataka, has won an Aprila RSV4 Factory motorbike.

Unlike the others, he had an inkling that he could get lucky this time. “I had an intuition this time that I would win the prize. So, I used to keep checking my mail every day.  Today, when I checked my mail I saw a congratulatory message stating that I had won a motorbike. But then, for a split second, I dismissed it thinking it could well be a spam mail. So I double checked the email address of the sender and even called up the manager’s number given in the signature at the bottom. They confirmed it and asked me to go and collect my prize on Friday. I was thrilled”, said the Dubai resident who has been living here for only two months.  As Rahman’s family lives in Karnataka, he had to return home for a week in March for some personal commitments and that’s when he decided to buy this lucky ticket.

“On my way back at the airport, I had bought the ticket for Dh100. There were different categories of tickets. I had bought the one that had the bike as a prize. I have to admit these opportunities are great and I will continue to buy tickets in future. I encourage everyone to take part in this amazing promotion,” he said.