A combination of his own, his wife’s, and his daughter’s birthday dates helped Sunil Kumar Sadasivan strike gold, winning Dh30 million as the second Grand Prize winner of The UAE Lottery’s Lucky Day Draw.
The 52-year-old maintenance technician from Kerala, India, said he chose the family dates rather than random numbers: “I thought, why not use the dates that matter most to me? I started with my daughter’s birthday, then added mine, then my wife’s birthday.”
He bought the winning ticket with a friend he had recently started participating in the lottery with. Their first ticket won them Dh100. Encouraged by the small win, they bought another ticket for the next draw and won the Dh30 million jackpot.
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For Sunil, the numbers were much more than just lucky dates. His seven-year-old daughter was born after 12 years of waiting and expensive fertility treatment that left the family facing financial difficulties. That made the numbers linked to her birthday especially meaningful.
“If my daughter is watching this, I want her to know that her father and mother have lived and waited for her,” he said. “My biggest dream is to educate my daughter and see her become a doctor.”
Sunil found out about his big win when he got home from work. “I checked my phone around 9.45pm after the draw. I had only expected a small prize. When I saw the winning numbers, I was in complete shock,” he said.
He couldn’t believe what he saw, so he showed the ticket to a friend before calling his wife. “My wife has no big desires. Her wish has always been to live an ordinary life. When we won this amount, she asked, ‘What will we do?’ We come from an ordinary family, so we believe we should do whatever we can for other people,” he said.
Despite the huge jackpot, Sunil said the first thing he wants to do is something simple. “Once I get the money, first I will go and buy a gift for my daughter,” he said.
He said the money will help him finish building his family’s home and finally take a break after years of hard work. “I have worked since I was young. Now, I will take some rest,” he said.
He also hopes to use part of the prize to help others. “There are a few people I know who don’t have homes, and I would like to build houses for them,” he added.
The UAE Lottery’s Lucky Day Draw happens every Wednesday and Saturday at 9.30pm. It offers a Dh30 million Grand Prize, a Dh5 million Second Prize, and three guaranteed Dh50,000 Lucky Chance prizes.
Source: Khaleej Times