Bengaluru Man Hits Jackpot, Wins ? 44 Crore In Abu Dhabi¡¯s Big Ticket Draw
Mr Koroth first dismissed the call from the show's host, who informed him of his big victory as a prank. He ended the conversation instantly and put the number in his blocked list.
Arun Kumar Vatakke Koroth, a resident of Bengaluru, won $1 million in the Big Ticket Draw Series 250, which took place in Abu Dhabi. Mr Koroth, whose winning ticket was 261031, was rewarded Dh20 million (about Rs 44,75,67,571) on March 22.
Gulf News reports that Mr Koroth was successful in his second attempt at winning the grand prize.
Mr Koroth first dismissed the call from the show's host, who informed him of his big victory as a prank. He ended the conversation instantly and put the number in his blocked list.
Mr Koroth spoke to Khaleej Times and said, "After receiving the call from Big Ticket, I assumed it was fake, a prank, probably. I disconnected the line and blocked that number. After a while, I received a call from a different number,"
Mr Koroth heard about the Big Ticket live draws from his friends and began buying Big Ticket raffle tickets online.
He decided to buy another ticket from the Big Ticket website on March 22.
Mr Koroth expressed his amazement at winning the big prize and said he's ''still in disbelief.
''I could not believe that I had won the first prize. I am still in disbelief. I bought this ticket through the ¡®buy two get one free' option. The ticket I won was the third one,'' he added.
The site reports that he has been hospitalized for knee surgery. He wants to use the money toward fulfilling his lifelong dream of starting a business.
''I have a dream. I will try to achieve the same,'' he said.
According to Khaleej Times, Mr Koroth wasn't the only Indian to win; Suresh Mathan, a resident of Bahrain, took home the second-place prize of Dh100,000 (about Rs 2,237,837). Muhammad Shefeek, an Indian citizen in Oman, took home the third-place prize of Dh90,000.
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