Sometimes the numbers that matter most aren’t random at all. Sunil Kumar Sadasivan, a 52-year-old maintenance technician from Kerala, just proved that. He is the second Dh30 million Grand Prize winner in UAE Lottery history, and he didn’t pick his numbers by chance.
He picked them by heart. “I thought, why not use the dates that matter most to me?” he said. “I started with my daughter’s birthday, then added mine, then my wife’s birthday.”
That’s it. No system. No strategy guide. Just love, translated into digits.
Meet Sunil Kumar Sadasivan, The UAE Lottery’s newest AED 30,000,000 Grand Prize winner.🎉
The 52-year-old maintenance technician from India chose numbers inspired by the birthdays of the three people closest to his heart: his daughter, his wife, and himself. ✨
“I want to… pic.twitter.com/o1PUSZbFcK
— The UAE Lottery (@theuaelottery) July 13, 2026
A Modest Win That Became Something Bigger:
Here’s the part that makes this story land differently. Sunil Kumar wasn’t even a regular lottery veteran chasing a big score.
He’d recently started playing with a friend, almost casually. Their first ticket together won them Dh100, pocket change, really. But a small win has a funny way of encouraging people to try again. So, they did.
The following Wednesday, they picked new numbers. Family dates this time. And that ticket changed everything.
The Night Everything Changed:
Sunil Kumar found out the way most of us would, alone, unwinding after a long shift, half expecting nothing.
“I checked my phone around 9:45 pm, after the draw. I had only expected a small prize. When I saw the winning numbers, I was in complete shock.”
He didn’t call his wife first. He ran to a friend, ticket in hand, needing someone else to confirm what his eyes were telling him. Only once it felt real did he pick up the phone.
His wife’s reaction? Beautifully understated.
“My wife has no big desires, her wish has always been to live an ordinary life. When we won this amount, she asked, ‘What will we do?'”
That question says everything about who they are as a family.
Twelve years of waiting, one daughter, one dream
This is where the story stops being about money and starts being about something harder to put a price on.
Sunil Kumar and his wife spent twelve years trying to become parents. Years of hope. Years of expensive treatment that strained the family financially long before any jackpot entered the picture.
Then came their daughter. Now seven years old. Is it any wonder her birthday was the first number he chose?
“If my daughter is watching this, I want her to know that her father and mother have lived and waited for her,” he said. “My biggest dream is to educate my daughter and see her become a doctor one day.”
His first move with the winnings won’t be an investment account or a luxury purchase. It’ll be a gift for her.
What Comes Next:
Sunil Kumar’s plans read like a checklist of quiet, unglamorous priorities, finish building the family home, take a long-overdue break from work he’s done since he was young, and then look outward.
“There are a few people I know who don’t have homes,” he said, “and I would like to build houses for them.”
That instinct, to spread the win rather than hoard it seems to run through this family.
He’s not alone in that thinking either. He’s the third UAE Lottery winner since the game launched in December 2024, following Anilkumar Bolla’s Dh100 million win in October 2025 and Tayab Khan’s shared Dh30 million prize with five friends in May. All three winners, notably, live in Abu Dhabi.
The Lucky Day Draw runs every Wednesday and Saturday at 9:30pm, offering a Dh30 million Grand Prize, a Dh5 million second prize, and three guaranteed Dh50,000 Lucky Chance prizes each draw. Games are regulated by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority.
As Sunil Kumar put it himself: “The UAE Lottery is a trustworthy platform. We can’t be sure when the opportunity comes, so everyone should give it a try.”
