Kenyan Woman Wins Sh113 Million in Dubai Raffle Draw

A Kenyan woman has won $1 million (Sh113 million) in a lottery competition in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai news outlets identifies the winner of the Dubai Duty-Free (DDF) Millennium Millionaire draw as Tajinder Dhanjal.

Dhanjal, a 45-year-old mother of three from Nairobi, becomes the third Kenyan to win the lottery since it was started in 1999. She won the windfall through a ticket she bought online after participating in the lottery for about 10 years. “This is a real blessing from God, I cannot explain how much I appreciate this,” Dhanjal is quoted as saying.

The raffle is run by Dubai Duty-Free, one of the biggest travel retail operators in the Gulf state.

Two other Kenyans, Ashwani Ganjoo (52) and Paul Wachira (44) won the prize on October 2021, and June 2019 respectively.

Ganjoo, a CEO for a trading company in Nairobi, won $1 million in Millennium Millionaire Series 372 with ticket number 2626. He purchased the ticket on his way to Delhi from Dubai on October 1st and is a regular participant of the draw.

Wachira became a millionaire in Millennium Millionaire Series 302 with ticket number 2162. He purchased the winning ticket online on May 22nd, 2019.

It took days for the organizers of the promotion to trace Wachira as calls to his number failed. 

“Frantic calls to his number kept failing. Email and a reminder email finally caught the attention of the winner who had no clue until when he opened his mailbox, to find he had won a jackpot,” Gulf News reported.

Draws of the lottery are carried out at the Dubai Duty-Free shopping complex after every two to three weeks.