‘I’m playing cricket’: UAE’s Big Ticket winner after hitting Dh30 million jackpot

Abu Dhabi: What do you do after hitting an unexpected jackpot and becoming an overnight millionaire? Indian expat Manu Mohanan, who won the grand prize in Big Ticket’s first draw of 2025, celebrated by playing cricket – a passion deeply rooted in him, just as it is for many of his fellow countrymen and friends.

Mohanan, who works in Bahrain as a nurse with the National Ambulance, was on a night shift when Big Ticket hosts Richard and Bouchra broke the news of his Dh30 million win. After finishing his shift at 5am (6am UAE time), the Keralite headed straight to the cricket field.

“Cricket is my first love. Sleep and everything else can wait, but I’ve been crazy about the game since childhood,” Mohanan said over the phone after scoring a century for his team, Flying Fighters Cricket Club. “I smashed 141 runs. We won both of our matches. Some of my friends who have won also play cricket,” said Mohanan, who plays as an all-rounder.

Mohanan will share the jackpot with 20 other colleagues, all of whom are nurses from Kerala.

“We are a group of 21 members. We all have financial woes and loans to repay here and back home. We’ve been living hand-to-mouth. All of us are happy now,” said the 33-year-old.

While the group had been trying their luck for more than five years, they stopped buying tickets for a few months last year but resumed after a colleague’s persistence.

“It had been a long time since we were pooling money and buying tickets with no luck. So, we took a break, but it was Sony who convinced us to buy again. On our payday, he goaded us into buying tickets. We reluctantly agreed because he was my hostel roommate. It’s only been five months since we resumed purchasing tickets,” said Mohanan, who has been settled in Bahrain for the past seven years.

Interestingly, the group won this unexpected windfall with a free ticket.

“We usually buy through the ‘Buy 2, get 1 free’ offer. This time, we got an email from Big Ticket offering ‘Buy 2, get 4 free.’ We got lucky with the sixth ticket, a free one, which won us millions,” Mohanan said, referring to ticket number 535948 purchased online on December 26.

“This is an unbelievable feeling. We know we’ve won, and it’s true, but it’s hard to digest. Some of us cried while on a video call after the win. None of us has slept so far.”

Mohanan said that everyone, including his family, is over the moon.

“My family has been here with me for just over a year. I became a father four months ago, and my baby boy has turned out to be lucky for all of us.”

While they don’t have any major plans for spending the jackpot, they will continue working.

“All of us are millionaires now, but we will continue working as nurses. We’ve worked hard to be in this profession. We don’t have big ambitions other than paying off our debts. We live a normal life and remain grateful for what we’ve received. But we’ll continue to try our luck in the next draw as well,” Mohanan added.