Sreevinayak Madhusudhanan Pillai
Sreevinayak Madhusudhanan Pillai, an Indian expat in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has won Rs 24,54,609 (Dh100,000) in the UAE Lottery.
Pillai, a native of Kerala, bought tickets for the lottery for a year before luck finally smiled during the UAE’s first and only government-regulated lottery. It was overseen by the he Gaming Regulatory Authority of the UAE.
The man won the lottery through the Lucky Chance category. “I have been playing for one year now. I won the prize today,” he was quoted as saying by Gulf News. Pillai, who has lived in the UAE for a decade, said that the prize money would help him build his own house.
Pillai said that he would like to play the lucky draw and test his luck once more with hopes of winning a bigger amount.
In December 2025, Sakthi Vinayagam, an Indian expat in Dubai, emerged as the solo winner of Rs 24.5 lakh in the latest Big Ticket Draw.
Vinayagam is a native of Chennai and works as an accommodation in-charge in Dubai, where he has lived for 20 years. Vinayagam had been purchasing the Big Ticket for the past four or five years.
Vinayagam received a call from the show host, who informed him about the win. According to a report by Gulf News, the expat was stunned to win the amount. The host asked if Vinayagam shared the winning ticket with others, to which the expat said, “No”.
As the reality of his win slowly sank in, the soft-spoken winner couldn’t hide his joy. “When I got the winning call, I was so, so happy,” he said, still buzzing with excitement. The man said he hasn’t decided what he would do with the prize money.
Speaking of future plans, Vinayagam said he would continue to buy the Big Ticket in hopes of winning a bigger amount.
This post was last modified on January 2, 2026 6:10 pm