Indian migrant worker hits jackpot in Singapore Sweep; wins 2.3 million overnight
September 26, 2017
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Dec 8 2004
$2 million is incredible - that's 57 million rupees!
wah can buy 2 football field liao!!!!!!!!:sunsmiley
Dec 8, 2004
$2 million ticket to a new life for two foreign workers
Lottery wins lead one to start a building business, while other says family's life will be transformed
THEY came to Singapore to make money - and succeeded beyond all their expectations.
Two foreign workers each picked up a $2 million lottery windfall.
One of them, a 29-year-old Indian construction worker who won the Singapore Sweep in April, has since left the country to start a building business back in Mumbai.
The other, a Bangladeshi lift maintenance worker in his 30s who has a handicapped brother and father, said the prize will also transform the lives of his family.
'This is a source of hope for people like us. It gives us a chance to break out of hardship and lead a different and better life,' he said.
He said he buys three to five Big Sweep tickets every month, inspired by a fellow worker who took home $1.5 million a few years ago.
'I've always thought how nice it would be if I won - but now I don't even know how much I've won in taka (Bangladesh currency)!' he added.
The Indian worker, who has two sons aged three and five, could not sleep and spent the whole night sharing the good news.
'My wife, my parents, my brothers and sisters all took turns to talk to me, one after another. They couldn't believe it either. $2 million is incredible - that's 57 million rupees! Our lives are going to change forever.'
Their wins are captured in a Singapore Pools newsletter, Winning Times, which has featured other winners in the five issues so far this year.
A grandmother in her 50s had beginner's luck when she hit the Toto jackpot on her first attempt. She won $2.8 million in August after deciding to try her hand at Toto after a trip to the supermarket one day after lunch.
While other winners were sleepless with excitement, one twice-lucky winner was decidedly cool.
The 53-year-old travel industry worker won $2 million in the Singapore Sweep in August, two years after he bagged the Toto first prize.
His win was more investment than luck, he said.
'After I won the Toto first prize, I was convinced that I could strike the first prize for Singapore Sweep too.
'So I started to buy 100 tickets every month. You never know unless you try. But of course, one must play within one's means.'