After winning ₹35 crore in UAE, this Indian technician wants to return home
Sandeep Kumar Prasad has won the AED 15 million grand prize in Abu Dhabi Big Ticket’s latest draw – and he now wants to return home to his family
An Indian expat has won the AED 15 million grand prize in Abu Dhabi Big Ticket’s latest draw – and he now wants to return home to his family. The joy in Sandeep Kumar Prasad’s voice was palpable when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.

“For the first time in my life, there is so much happiness,” said the 30-year-old, according to a Gulf News report.
Prasad had purchased the winning ticket, number 200669, on August 19. On September 3, his life changed when Abu Dhabi Big Ticket host Richard announced his number as the winner of the Dh15 million ( ₹35 crore approximately) prize in a live draw.
From India to UAE
Sandeep Kumar Prasad, a native of Uttar Pradesh, has been based in the UAE for the last three years. He works as a technician for Dubai Drydocks.
Prasad has a wife, two brothers and a sister back in India. For the last few months, he had been worried about his father’s declining health.
After winning the grand prize, he now dreams of returning to India to be closer to his family. He also wants to start his own business.
The winning ticket
The UP technician first learned about the Big Ticket draw through friends. The winning ticket was purchased collectively by a group of 20 friends.
Prasad could not afford to buy tickets regularly at first. However, over the last three months, he had been buying tickets consistently – and his consistency paid off on September 3.
The 30-year-old had not expected to win. In fact, he was not even watching the draw as it happened. When he realised he had won the grand prize, Prasad was overcome with emotion. “Oh, thank you sir, thank you…” he screamed.
Besides the grand prize, six other participants won AED 100,000 each.
ABOUT THE AUTHORSanya JainSanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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