Dubai Duty Free draw: 10 Indian colleagues share $1 million prize (VIDEO)
Four winners take home luxury cars and motorbikes
DUBAI: A group of 10 Indian colleagues have won a staggering US$1 million in the latest Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise draw, held today at Concourse A of Dubai International Airport.
Prasad Sivadasan, a 45-year-old Indian national, was named the latest Millennium Millionaire Series 492 winner with ticket number 3793, purchased online on 19th February. A Dubai resident for 20 years, Sivadasan works as a system engineer for Seven Seas Technologies in Bur Dubai. However, he did not win alone.
The ticket was bought as part of a long-standing tradition shared with nine of his colleagues, with whom he has been purchasing tickets for the past 7-8 years, rotating names for each draw.
“I’m very thankful to Dubai Duty Free. We are so happy with this news!” said Sivadasan, who hails from Kerala and is a father of two.
Sivadasan is now the 246th Indian national to have won the US$1 million prize since the Millennium Millionaire promotion began in 1999. Indian nationals remain the most frequent winners of the highly anticipated draw.
The draw was conducted in the presence of Dubai Duty Free Deputy Managing Director Salah Tahlak, along with Mona Al Ali, SVP – HR, Michael Schmidt, SVP – Retail, and Sharon Beecham, SVP – Purchasing.
Luxury car and motorbike winners
Alongside the grand prize, the Finest Surprise draw awarded two luxury cars and two motorbikes.
Shahul Hameed, a 38-year-old Indian national based in Abu Dhabi, won a BMW M850i Gran Coupe in Tanzanite Blue Metallic with ticket number 985 from Finest Surprise Series 1911. A participant in Dubai Duty Free promotions for over a decade, Hameed, who works as an IT manager for a semi-government company, was ecstatic.
“Indeed, dreams do come true! I’ve been trying my luck for the last 10 years and now I finally won the car!” he said.
Another luxury car went to Adel Ranjbar, a 47-year-old Iranian national living in Dubai. His BMW 740i M Sport, also in Tanzanite Blue Metallic, came from ticket number 98 in Finest Surprise Series 1912. A regular entrant for the past eight years, Ranjbar, who works in a shoe shop in Murshid Bazaar, said:
“I wished before that one day I will win in your promotion, and now it has finally happened. Thank you, Dubai Duty Free.”
Meanwhile, two motorbike winners took home high-end models. Kamal Thahaseel Shakur, a 48-year-old Indian national based in Dubai, secured an Indian Scout Bobber Limited Plus Tech (Black Smoke) with ticket number 175 in Series 615. A FedEx regional manager and a regular entrant for 10 years, he said:
“Amazing! I’m very happy, though I hope it’s a call for my ticket to Millennium Millionaire. Thank you so much, Dubai Duty Free.”
The second motorbike winner was Htet Pine-Oo, a 36-year-old Myanmar national based in Sharjah, who won a BMW R12 (Black Storm Metallic) with ticket number 816 in Series 616. Pine-Oo, who works for a Dubai retail company, has been entering the draw since last year and is now the first Myanmar national to win a motorbike since its addition to the Finest Surprise promotion in 2002.
“I love Dubai Duty Free! Thank you for this win,” he said.