Indian winner of Dh12 million UAE lottery didn’t tell husband about ticket

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Sopna Nair, the Indian national who won Dh12 million in the Big Ticket Abu Dhabi raffle

Abu Dhabi - Her husband was shocked to hear the news.

by

Dhanusha Gokulan

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Published: Fri 5 Jul 2019, 7:18 PM

Last updated: Sun 16 Aug 2020, 4:18 PM

Big Ticket Abu Dhabi raffle winner Sopna Nair may have walked away with a whopping Dh12 million, but that did not keep the Kerala native from working hard at the office, trying to complete a work-related project.
Big Ticket Abu Dhabi, UAE: Your ultimate guide to participating
Sopna, an employee at an Abu Dhabi-based engineering consultancy, has a five-year-old daughter. Even a day after her winning the lucky draw, she did not let the happy moment come in the middle of her work-related commitments.
"This is the eighth year in this company, and I have such a big commitment to the firm. I really haven't had didn't have the time to process the news. My company has helped me immensely and I'm extremely indebted to them," said Sopna. "I've been so busy the whole day. I've been inundated with calls and messages, but I've not been able to speak to anyone because I've been so focused on work," she added.
Sopna, who hails from Kollam in Kerala, has been living in UAE since December 2010 with her family. Her husband is from Trivandrum, also in Kerala. "We're presently settled in Trivandrum," she added. Sopna's winnings even came as a surprise to her husband, as he was not aware that she'd purchased the ticket.

"I don't buy the ticket every time. This might've been the third or fourth time I got it. Honestly, we are still in shock because no one really assumes that they will win while buying it," said Sopna. "This time, I didn't tell my husband. And when we found out that we'd won, he was in shock as well," she added.

Sopna wishes to support her and her husband's family with the winnings. However, she would also like to work towards supporting underprivileged women with her winnings. "I want to support underprivileged people, especially women. I've always done small charitable projects in whatever way I could, now I have the financial freedom to do a lot more," she added.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com


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