Across the Gulf, millions of expatriate workers carry a quiet, persistent hope — that fortune might one day close the distance between where they are and where their hearts remain. A 44-year-old school watchman from Kerala, seventeen years into his life in Dubai, found that hope briefly answered when a ticket chosen by a friend, not himself, returned Dh100,000 in the Big Ticket Series 289 draw. His first instinct was not to spend, but to send — home, to family — and his second was to buy another ticket. In this small sequence of choices, an entire philosophy of migrant life is quietly visible.
Kerala expat wins Dh100,000 in Big Ticket draw after friend selects winning number
He has already bought another ticket for the next draw
Mark
Why does it matter that his friend selected the ticket number rather than him choosing it himself?
Mimi
Because it removes the weight of personal choice. If he had picked the number and it lost, he might blame himself. But his friend picked it, and it won—that feels like grace, like something outside his control working in his favor. It makes him more likely to keep playing.
Mark
He's sending the money home to India. Is that typical for expat workers here?
Mimi
Almost universal. These men and women are here to earn and send. The prize is not really for them—it's for the family they left behind. That's why he buys another ticket immediately. The money was never meant to stay in his pocket.
Mark
What does it say that Big Ticket is promoting so heavily in August, with bigger and bigger prizes?
Mimi
They know the pattern works. People see someone like this watchman win, and they think: that could be me. The promotions are designed to ride that wave of hope. More winners announced means more stories like his circulating, which means more tickets sold.
Mark
Do you think he'll actually win again?
Mimi
Probably not. But that's not really the question he's asking himself. He's asking whether it's worth the small cost of a ticket to keep the possibility alive. For someone sending most of his salary home, that's a different calculation than it is for someone with surplus money.
Mark
What happens if he doesn't win again?
Mimi
He keeps buying. That's what the story shows. He's not playing to get rich. He's playing because the alternative—giving up on the possibility—feels worse.
Le Pouls
- A man who guards a school by day has spent four years guarding a different kind of hope — a monthly lottery ticket bought with friends as a small act of collective faith.
- The winning number was not even his own choice: his friend Anub selected it, lending the moment an almost fated quality that pure luck alone could not explain.
- He was not the only one — four others, three fellow Keralites and two Bangladeshi nationals, each claimed Dh100,000 in the same draw, turning one series into a rare shared windfall across communities.
- His response to winning was immediate and unsurprising to anyone who understands migrant arithmetic: the money goes to India, and the next ticket is already purchased.
- Big Ticket is amplifying the stakes through August and beyond — 26 winners, luxury cars, a Dh15 million grand draw on September 3rd, and a Big Spin competition dangling Dh1 million for three finalists.
Across the Gulf, millions of expatriate workers carry a quiet, persistent hope — that fortune might one day close the distance between where they are and where their hearts remain. A 44-year-old school watchman from Kerala, seventeen years into his life in Dubai, found that hope briefly answered when a ticket chosen by a friend, not himself, returned Dh100,000 in the Big Ticket Series 289 draw. His first instinct was not to spend, but to send — home, to family — and his second was to buy another ticket. In this small sequence of choices, an entire philosophy of migrant life is quietly visible.
A Kerala man who has spent seventeen years working as a school watchman in Dubai joined a group of friends buying Big Ticket lottery entries together four years ago. It was the kind of modest, recurring ritual that asks little and promises nothing — except the possibility of something different.
In Series 289, his friend Anub was the one who chose the ticket number. When that number was drawn, neither man had expected it. The prize: Dh100,000. The fact that the winning choice belonged to someone else gave the moment a quality that felt less like random chance and more like quiet inevitability.
He was one of five winners in that draw. Akhil Chandran R P and Sarath Sasidharan, also from Kerala, along with Bangladeshi nationals Arifuzzaman Shuvo and Sabuj Md Delowar Munshi, each claimed the same amount — half a million dirhams distributed across five lives in a single afternoon.
What the watchman does next says everything: the money is going to his family in India, and he has already entered the next draw. It is not the behavior of someone cashing out. It is the behavior of someone who has seen the door open once and sees no reason to stop knocking.
Big Ticket's August calendar keeps that door wide open — 26 winners across the month, a Land Rover Defender and Nissan Patrol in the Dream Car promotion, weekly Dh25,000 electronic draws streamed live, and a September 3rd grand draw offering Dh15 million to one person and Dh100,000 to five others. Every August ticket purchase also enters buyers into The Big Spin, where three finalists will compete for up to Dh1 million in early October.
For the watchman and the thousands like him scattered across the Gulf, these are not idle gambles. They are small, affordable acts of imagination — a way of keeping possibility alive on a salary that was never meant to stretch as far as hope does.
A 44-year-old man from Kerala has been working as a school watchman in Dubai for seventeen years. Four years ago, friends introduced him to Big Ticket, the UAE's monthly lottery draw, and he joined a group that bought tickets together each month. The routine was unremarkable—the kind of small hope people carry when they're far from home, sending most of what they earn back to family.
Then in Series 289, something shifted. His friend Anub was the one who selected the ticket number. Neither of them expected it to win. When the draw came, the number came up. One hundred thousand dirhams. The surprise of it—that his friend had picked the winning combination without knowing—made the moment feel less like luck and more like something meant to happen.
He is not alone in his fortune. Four other people won the same amount in that same draw: Akhil Chandran R P and Sarath Sasidharan, both also from Kerala, and two Bangladeshi nationals, Arifuzzaman Shuvo and Sabuj Md Delowar Munshi. Together, the five winners collected half a million dirhams from Series 289.
What the watchman plans to do with his share is telling. He will send it to his family in India. And he has already bought another ticket for the next draw. This is not the behavior of someone who has lost faith in the system or decided his luck has run out. He is doubling down on hope.
Big Ticket is banking on that same instinct across the entire region. August is bringing a cascade of prizes: twenty-six winners in total, with cash, luxury cars, and entry into The Big Spin, where three lucky participants will compete for up to one million dirhams. The main event comes on September 3rd, when one person will walk away with fifteen million dirhams, and five others will each receive one hundred thousand. Throughout the month, weekly electronic draws will award twenty-five thousand dirhams to four additional winners, streamed live on YouTube each week at seven-thirty in the evening.
The Dream Car promotion runs parallel: a Land Rover Defender will be awarded on September 3rd, followed by a Nissan Patrol on October 3rd. Anyone who buys a Big Ticket during August is automatically entered into The Big Spin lottery, with the final competition scheduled for early October.
For the watchman in Dubai, and for thousands like him across the Gulf, these are not frivolous games. They are small doors left open to possibility—a way to imagine sending more money home, or buying something that feels impossible on a watchman's salary. The fact that his friend picked the number that changed things, that he did not choose it himself, somehow makes it easier to believe it could happen again.
Citations marquantes
The watchman plans to send his prize share to family in India while continuing to purchase tickets monthly— Big Ticket Series 289 winner
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