Padam Bahadur, a 41-year-old Nepali driver with a food trading company in Dubai, has gone from earning a monthly salary of Dh5,700 to being an overnight millionaire after scooping the Dh20 million ($5.4 million) jackpot with Mahzooz at the weekend.
He plans to use the windfall to pay for his 12-year-old daughter’s education, build a house and invest in a business in his home country, and reduce credit card debt in the UAE worth Dh40,000.
Mr Bahadur will also donate to charity and said that he has been helping the elderly and the blind in Nepal for the past seven years.
However, he does not plan to quit his job and will bring his family to the UAE in a few years.
Mr Bahadur's life-changing winning numbers for the April 15 Mahzooz draw were chosen randomly. The numbers were 5, 10, 41, 46 and 49.
“I didn’t check the Mahzooz results on Saturday night as I was tired after work,” said Mr Bahadur, who has been in the UAE and working for the same employer for 23 years.
“I slept in late on Sunday and got a call from the organisers, but initially mistook the call for a joke. Even my family was in disbelief until I sent them proof of my win.”
Over the past two years, Mahzooz, which means lucky or fortunate in Arabic, has created 39 millionaires and given away more than Dh407 million in prize money to about 236,000 winners, Farid Samji, chief executive of Ewings, the operator of Mahzooz, said.
In December, Dubai resident Inger became Mahzooz’s first female multimillionaire after winning the Dh10 million jackpot.
Junaid Rana, a Dubai-based company driver, remains the UAE's biggest prize draw winner after winning the Dh50 million Mahzooz jackpot in October 2021.
Mr Rana, originally from Pakistan, went from earning Dh6,000 a month to having the financial freedom that millions of people around the world spend years seeking.
“I couldn’t believe it at the time; it’s like dreams come true,” Mr Rana said during an interview at the time for The National's Pocketful of Dirhams podcast.
Sherlon, a 35-year-old Filipino in Dubai, also won Dh1 million in a raffle draw conducted by Mahzooz on Saturday.
The radiographer with a private hospital in Dubai, who earns a monthly salary of Dh11,000, will use the windfall to secure his four-month-old son’s future, build a dream house for his wife in the Philippines, and also share it with his family.
Aboobacker, a 48-year-old Indian businessman who runs a chocolate shop in Kuwait, also won 400 grams of gold in a Mahzooz raffle draw on Saturday. He has been in Kuwait for 28 years and plans to reinvest the money in his business.
There are other draws in the UAE that offer large prizes, including Emirates Draw, which was launched in September 2021. Participants have to match seven numbers to win the mega prize of Dh100 million, the largest on offer in the UAE.
However, nobody has yet claimed the top prize.
10 ways to win cash prizes in the UAE
- Mahzooz draw — Dh20 million
- Emirates Draw — Dh100 million
- Big Ticket Abu Dhabi Duty Free draw — Dh15 million
- Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire draw — $1 million (Dh3.67 million)
- ADIB Ghina Savings draw — Dh3 million grand prize plus monthly prizes
- ADCB Millionaire Savings accounts — Dh1 million grand prize plus monthly prizes
- Kunooz Savings Account — grand prizes of Dh1 million and a Tesla
- FAB Al Awwal Savings Certificate — Dh1 million yearly grand prize and Dh200,000 every quarter, plus monthly prizes
- Mashreq Millionaire — Dh1 million grand prize plus monthly prizes
- National Bonds Reward Programme — two Dh1 million grand prizes every quarter plus monthly prizes
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Tales of Yusuf Tadros
Adel Esmat (translated by Mandy McClure)
Hoopoe
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Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
