Indian driver in UAE wins ₹10 crore jackpot after 15 years of buying tickets: ‘Now I want to go back to India’

An Indian driver in the UAE has won the Dh15 million (approximately ₹37 crore) jackpot in the Big Ticket after consently buying tickets for 15 years.Vibeesh Palliyali works as a pickup driver for a transport company, (Unsplash/Representational image)According to a report Khaleej Times, Vibeesh Palliyali, who works as a pickup driver for a transport company, said luck came through a ticket he bought on February 28 after his cousin and two friends urged him to join them.“I had already bought one set of tickets for Dh1,000 on February 7 when I was travelling to India,” he told Khaleej Times. “On February 28, my cousin and two of his friends called me asking to take a ticket with them. I tried telling them that I had already spent my budget this month, but they kept begging me. I took the ticket so as not to let them down,” he added.Palliyali has been working as a driver in the UAE for nearly two decades. He said that he purchased the ticket online at around 8pm, and that turned out to be the winning entry. He received the life-changing news while driving back home to Sharjah from Abu Dhabi after completing a delivery.“Since I am a regular customer, I usually get calls from the company,” he said. “But they usually call in the middle or the end of the month saying that there are offers on tickets. I wondered why they would call me in the beginning of the month in the evening,” he continued.When he was informed that he had won the jackpot, Palliyali said he was stunned. “I asked them if it was a prank call even though I knew it wasn’t,” he said, adding, “Afterwards, I called my wife and told her I got a call. She checked online immediately and then told me that my name was on the website as the winner.”(Also Read: