Arun Kumar Vatakke Koroth, from Bengaluru, thought that someone was playing a prank on him when he got a call saying that he had won the grand prize in Abu Dhabi’s Big Ticket lottery. And the prize money? A heart-stopping AED 20 million (USD 5 million), or about INR 44 crore!
Koroth hit the jackpot after buying lottery tickets online for the Big Ticket draw; he got to know about the draw from his friends. He bought the second ticket on March 22…and his life changed forever. The news of his win has made headlines today — it has turned out to be a really, really good Good Friday for the lucky chap.
The way he has won is incredible, because the two tickets that Koroth bought did not get him his huge prize pot. What has made him a dollar millionaire is the third ticket that he got as part of Big Ticket lottery’s ‘buy two get one free’ scheme.
Speaking to the leading Dubai-based daily Khaleej Times, he 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.” He was destined to be a winner, and even his own disbelief could not keep his good fortune away.
Like everyone who buys lottery tickets, Koroth has a dream: starting a business. Now he can do just that, with a lot of cash left to spare. The massive win could not have come at a better time for this Bengaluru resident, who is reportedly in hospital for knee surgery. Well, those medical bills are, at least, not a headache any more.