Indian wins lottery before leaving UAE

An Indian expatriate won a 7 million dirham ($1.9 million) lottery for a ticket he purchased at the Abu Dhabi International Airport just before boarding a flight for India, a media report said on Wednesday.

Tojo Mathew, a 30-year-old Abu Dhabi-based civil supervisor, had the winning ticket number on Tuesday at the monthly Big Ticket raffle draw conducted at the airport, reports Khaleej Times.

"I bought the ticket at the Abu Dhabi airport just before boarding the flight for India on June 24. I was leaving the UAE for good to join my wife, who got a job in New Delhi. I still cannot believe I won," Mathew told the daily over telephone from Delhi.

Mathew and his friends received the news on Tuesday morning when they checked the Big Ticket website.

Mathew said his big dream was to own a house in his home state Kerala. "That has been my long pending dream. Now it can be a reality with the raffle money."

Nine others won 100,000 dirhams at the draw on Tuesday. They included five Indians, one Pakistani and a Kuwait resident.

--IANS

ksk/mr