‘It felt like a dream’: Nepalese security guard to share Dh30m UAE lottery fortune with friends | The National
An overjoyed Nepalese security guard who won the UAE’s first Dh30 million midweek lottery jackpot will share the life-changing windfall with four friends.
Abu Dhabi resident Tayab Khan said it still feels “like a dream” after he picked out the seven winning numbers in the Lucky Day draw on Wednesday, May 27. The 26-year-old and his fellow syndicate members pooled their money regularly to try their luck at winning the grand prize.
Mr Khan never gave up hope that success was on the way and even called the group “Future Millionaires” – a title he has now happily updated. “I created the group and named it ‘Future Millionaires’,” Mr Khan said. “After we won, I changed it to ‘Millionaires’.”
He has previously used numbers with a personal connection to try to land the top prize, but this time he chose the digits at random.
“Sometimes I use family-related numbers, and sometimes I choose randomly,” he said. “This time, I just selected random numbers and submitted the ticket.”
Mr Khan didn’t even watch the live draw and only found out about the remarkable win when he opened an email from the lottery organisers.
“I had received similar emails before for small prizes, so I didn’t think much of it,” he said. “But when I opened the email and saw Dh30 million, my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. It felt like a dream. Even now, it’s hard to express that feeling in words.”
Tears of joy
The first person the lottery winner called was his uncle in Nepal, whom he describes as a father figure and the person who helped him begin his journey in the UAE.
“He’s the reason I came here in the first place,” he said. “When I told him how much we had won, he was completely speechless. Tears came to his eyes. He couldn’t believe it.”
Mr Khan discovered The UAE Lottery in early 2024 while scrolling on Facebook.
“I saw other people winning and always hoped that one day I could be a winner too,” he said. “We kept participating, kept believing, and eventually that day came.”
Building a brighter future
Mr Khan is eager to use part of his Dh6 million slice of the grand prize to build a house for his family in Nepal before investing in his own future.
“That’s the first thing I want to do,” he said. “A house for my family. I’ve worked as an employee for four years. Now I want to move to the next level. I want to explore entrepreneurship and investment.”
While he is taking a sensible approach to his winnings, he is preparing to splash some of the cash on luxuries once out of reach. “I’ve been eyeing a Mahindra Thar Jeep and a Rolex watch,” he said.
Mr Khan is grateful for the opportunity to help those who have been by his side over the years. He has been in a relationship since before moving to the UAE and credits his partner with standing by him through every challenge. “When I had nothing, she was there,” he said. “She saw my struggles, my hard work, everything.”
When he shared the news, she found it hard to believe. “I had to show her the winning ticket,” he said. “She was completely speechless.”
Landmark lottery win
Mr Khan is only the second grand prize winner since the national lottery was launched two years ago.
Abu Dhabi resident Anilkumar Bolla etched his name in the record books as the UAE’s sole Dh100 million lottery winner in October 2025. The lottery reduced its top prize to Dh30 million as part of a gaming overhaul in December, with draws now held weekly rather than fortnightly.
Players were given a further chance to win big when the Wednesday draw was introduced in April. The lottery was founded as a result of a major government drive to regulate the UAE’s commercial gaming sector.
The Lucky Day draw follows a calendar format, with players asked to select six numbers from a possible 31 in the “day” section of the online draw card and one number from a possible 12 in the “month” section. Players must register on the official website to participate. There are 43 numbers from which to pick.
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