A?Kerala man?working as a private chef in Abu Dhabi has hit a jackpot by winning 500,000 dirhams (Rs 1 crore) in a raffle draw in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).??
Saidali Kannan, who has been buying?lottery?tickets for the past 24 years, first won a cash prize way back in 1998. After trying his luck for all these years, he won the Big Ticket draw again in 2022, Khaleej Times reported.?
Kannan is sharing the prize money with a group of friends who helped him buy the ticket. Kannan bought his winning ticket on February 22.??
Abdul Majeed,?one of his friends who will be sharing the prize,?said they have been jointly buying tickets for decades now.??
“I have been sharing tickets almost every month with Saidali for the last 20 years. I believe he’s very lucky. I have been doing this for a very long time. And it has finally paid off," Majeed told Khaleej Times.?
Last year in July, another Kerala man's luck shone brightly after he hit?a jackpot by winning 20 million dirhams (Rs 40 crore) in a raffle draw.?
Ranjit Somaranjan, who works as a driver in Dubai,?had been buying?tickets for three years without any luck. But in 2021, his stars aligned perfectly.?
He was at a place near the Abu Dhabi mosque when he got the good news. However, the winning amount was to be shared between 10 people, Somarajan and his nine other friends.??
The group of 10 had brought the tickets together, so the whole amount will be divided among all those who contributed.?The group includes people from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.?Each of them had contributed 100 dirhams (Rs 2,000) each to buy the ticket, which was bought in Somranjan’s name.?
Another Indian, Ganesh Shinde, a?mariner, won $1 million in a?lucky draw?contest in Dubai.?
Shinde, based in Maharashtra's Thane, bought the jackpot ticket from the Dubai Duty-Free Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise draw website on June 16 last year.?Shinde, who is a seaman for a Brazilian company, had bought the coveted ticket when he was travelling back to Dubai.? ? ?
On his arrival, he was left stunned as he found out that he had won the jackpot.?
Shinde?has been buying?lottery?tickets for the past two years without any luck. But this time, luck was in his favour.?
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