Indian expat Sreeraj Krishnan Kopparembil, 33, has won a whopping Dh7 million in the Abu Dhabi Big Ticket Draw.
“I just went blank for a minute when I got the call from the Big Ticket. I still cannot believe it has happened,” Khaleej Times quoted Krishnan as saying.
The 33-year-old shipping coordinator from the south Indian state of Kerala has been working in the UAE for the last nine years, the report said.
“I am now convinced my lucky number is 44698,” Krishnan reportedly said, referring to his ticket number.
Though a regular buyer of Big Ticket, Krishnan said he has never won anything before. “This time when I bought the ticket, I had decided it would be my last try. And as luck would have it, this is definitely my last buy,” Kirshnan, who earns Dh6,000 in monthly salary, reportedly said.
“My first priority is to pay off my housing loans back in India. That is what my wife also wants me to do,” Khaleej Times quoted Krishnan, who is married to Ashwathi, as saying. She works as an administrative assistant in a private firm.
The couple reportedly said they want to continue working in the UAE. “Why would I leave this country where we got lucky? … I am a matured person who wants to stay grounded. I don’t have any extraordinary plans for life as of now. I will let the excitement settle and think it through,” Krishnan was quoted as saying.
