Indian woman, 42, wins $1 million after buying Dubai Duty Free ticket from husband’s cash gift

Payal, an Indian woman, recently celebrated her wedding anniversary and received cash from her husband on the occasion. She used the money to buy herself a raffle draw ticket on Thursday, May 16. And as luck would have it, Payal’s ticket led her to $1 million.

Payal, who hails from Punjab in India, won this grand prize at Dubai Duty-Free (DDF) Millennium Millionaire series 461 with ticket number 3337, which she purchased online on May 3.

She told Khaleej Times, “The money I used to buy the winning ticket came from my husband (Harnek Singh), who gifted me Dh1,000 on our 16th wedding anniversary on April 20. I thought of buying a DDF ticket online with the money, and I picked the ticket with most number 3s in it.”

Payal says that she has been purchasing DDF tickets for the previous twelve years. Her favourite number is three. She purchased one each time they went on a trip, listing her children’s and husband’s names alternately, reported the Khaleej Times.

“I used to buy DDF once or twice every year at the airport but I took exception last time when, for the first time, I bought ticket online. It was a gift that kept on giving — the cash gift from husband made us a millionaire,” said Payal.

She also added, “I called my husband and told him of the jackpot. I was so happy and tears of joy rolled out as I spoke to him. The kids (twins aged 14) don’t know the news yet, but we will tell them once we pick them up from school this (Thursday) afternoon.”

When the news outlet asked how she plans to spend the money, she said, “It’s still very early to decide. But, of course, our priority is to secure my kids’ future – to give them a really good education for a good life.”