A group of five friends, who called themselves the “Future Millionaires,” struck lucky on Eid day.
Abu Dhabi: UAE Lottery has announced its first-ever Dh30 million Grand Prize winner as 26-year-old Nepalese security guard Tayab Khan, who will share the winnings with four friends.
Khan, an Abu Dhabi resident, won the Lucky Day draw held on the first day of Eid Al Adha on April 27, with his identity and nationality revealed on June 2.
The lottery operator said Khan left Nepal four years ago in search of better opportunities and is now celebrating a record-breaking win alongside his close group of friends.
The Dh30 million prize will be equally shared among five friends who pooled their money, took turns selecting numbers, and referred to themselves as the “Future Millionaires.”
Each of the five friends will receive Dh6 million each.
Describing the moment, Khan said he was not actively watching the draw when the results came in, and his reaction reflected the shock and disbelief of the life-changing win.
“I had received similar emails before for small prizes, so I didn’t think much of it,” he recalled. “But when I opened the email and saw Dh30 million, my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. It felt like a dream. Even now, it’s hard to express that feeling in words.”
His first reaction, shared through the UAE Lottery, was simple: “I’m feeling absolutely amazing, like I’m in the sky.”
The win marks the second Grand Prize in the history of the Lucky Day draw, following the Dh100 million jackpot awarded in October 2025 to Anil Kumar Anilkumar Bolla, a 29-year-old Indian expat based in Abu Dhabi. The draw format was later revised in late 2025, reducing the Grand Prize to Dh30 million but increasing frequency to twice weekly.
The group that believed
Khan said he created a WhatsApp group that would eventually change all five friends’ lives, even giving it a name that later proved prophetic.
“I created the group and named it ‘Future Millionaires’,” he laughed. “After we won, I changed it to ‘Millionaires’.”
The friends had been playing together consistently, celebrating small wins along the way, such as matching three or four numbers, but they never stopped participating. Khan first came across the UAE Lottery in early 2024 while browsing Facebook, and he followed other winners’ stories while holding on to the hope that one day he would win as well.
“I saw other people winning and always hoped that one day I could be a winner too,” he said. “We kept participating, kept believing, and eventually that day came.”
He added that their number selection had no fixed strategy or formula.
“Sometimes I use family-related numbers, and sometimes I choose randomly,” he said. “This time, I just selected random numbers and submitted the ticket.”
The first call
When the reality of the win sank in, Khan first reached out not to a bank or lawyer, but to his uncle in Nepal.
“He’s the reason I came here in the first place,” said Khan. “When I told him how much we had won, he was completely speechless. Tears came to his eyes. He couldn’t believe it.”
His partner, who has supported him since before he left Nepal, also reacted emotionally upon hearing the news.
“When I had nothing, she was there,” he said about his partner, with whom he has been in a relationship since before moving to the UAE.
He credited her for standing by him through every challenge, adding: “She saw my struggles, my hard work, everything.”
He said he even had to show her the winning ticket for her to believe it, and she was left completely speechless.
