Filipino nurse in UAE a millionaire after lottery draw

The Big Ticket host calls up an excited Anabelle Manalastas Dela Cruz. Image: Facebook/@BigTicketAbuDhabi

A Filipino nurse situated in the United Arab Emirates just bagged the grand prize for a millionaire draw in Abu Dhabi last Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Anabelle Manalastas Dela Cruz was the lucky owner of the winning ticket picked at the live-streamed event of Big Ticket, an England-based lottery game show. The draw was worth 12 million dirhams or P166 million.

Dela Cruz was absent during the event at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. Fortunately, she was able to answer the show’s host Richard when he called her on the phone, as seen on the lottery show’s Facebook page on Dec. 3.

She will share the jackpot with 14 other people and will earn a share of almost 2 million dirhams (about P27 million), Gulf News reported yesterday, Dec. 4. She told the news outlet that she plans to complete the payment of a personal loan for a house in the Philippines of nearly P1.3 million.

Dela Cruz said she purchased the winning raffle ticket with five to six other friends. She is a nurse at a government hospital in Abu Dhabi, according to a Khaleej Times report yesterday, Dec. 4.

“We cannot contain our happiness. I just finished the rosary when Richard called,” she said.

Dela Cruz has been in the UAE since 2011 and has been buying tickets for the past four years. She, together with some of her friends, shared the money to buy the ticket on Nov. 29, according to the Khaleej Times report.

The nurse also said she usually keeps her phone on silent mode when she is at work; luckily that day she chose to check her phone when it rang.

Dela Cruz currently has no plans to return to the country. She did state that even after being a millionaire, she still intends to work. Cha Lino/NVG

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