Dubai:  Muhammad Mukhtar Mirza, a Canadian national of Indian origin won a jackpot of $1 million in Dubai Duty Free (DDF) Millennium Millionaire raffle in Series 297 with ticket number 2060 on Tuesday. Mukhtar works as a real estate broker in Dubai and said he was surprised upon receiving "the call of a lifetime" from a Dubai Duty Free representative, the Khaleej Times reported.


"Thank you so much Dubai Duty Free for this amazing news, I have been participating in your promotions both for Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise for 10 years. I can't believe that I finally won," he said.

Mukhtar was taken by surprise when he got to know that his golf buddy Michael McGinley, also won the raffle and became the first ever Irish national to win the Millennium Millionaire raffle since its inception in 1999, reported Gulf News. Ginley, who is also based in Dubai, won in Series 296 with ticket number 4143

Another winner was one Jamil Alsadaka who won a Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe in Series 1715.


"When I got the call from Duty Free, I was like 'Oh My God!' I needed to verify it before telling anyone else... Then I got a call from Mukhtar asking - did you just win one million dollars. I was shocked... Then he said he had won it too. It was such a coincidence!" McGinley told Gulf News.

"Winning the raffle was the first shock. Knowing that Michael had also won it in another series was the second shock," said Mukhtar M.

The two men are still not able to believe that they've struck gold with the lottery.

"Golf could be the lucky charm as both of us won it on the same day," Mukhtar M. told the daily.