It took only one scratch for Amelito Gozun to win Dh100,000 on a Big Shot football ticket this month.
“It’s my first time to win anything here in the UAE,” said the 46-year-old Filipino father of three. “I can’t say it will totally change my life. Whether it’s a small or a big amount, I’m still happy to have won.”
Mr Gozun, originally from Arayat, Pampanga, about 65 kilometres north of Manila, has three daughters aged 22, 18 and 14. He has worked as an electrical engineer at an oil and gas company in Habshan since March 2011, earning Dh32,000 a month.
He said he plans to set aside the prize money for his middle daughter, who wants to go to medical school after she earns a medical technology degree and passes her board exams.
The winning ticket was scratched at the Big Shot sales kiosk in Khalidiyah Mall on January 18.
“Amelito was just so excited. He couldn’t believe he had won and just kept asking ‘Is this real? Is this real?’,” said Lorielyn Gamido, a Big Shot sales representative. “It’s so great to see the prize go to someone who will use it to help their family.”
Big Shot offers six different promotional games on its tickets including Go Yellow, Go Red, Mascot Mania, Fortune Fields and 3-in-a-Row. Each game involves a different way to win instant cash with different top prize values ranging from Dh10,000 up to Dh100,000.
Mr Gozun played the Go Yellow game, where players take the role of the yellow team and must score higher than the Blue team on any horizontal line. He played a high scoring match and came out on top with a 9 v 8 victory to the Yellow team, to win the Dh100,000 instant cash prize.
"We are delighted to see such a great prize to be given out to a Filipino," said Big Shot chief executive Mike Brightmore.
"This now makes up over Dh5?million in prizes that we have given away to people like Amelito in order to achieve their dreams while boosting the reputation of football in the UAE."
Big Shot sells promotional football tickets for Etisalat Pro League teams Al Nasr and Baniyas.
Each ticket includes an instant Scratch & Win promotion with a top prize of Dh100,000.
Big Shot tickets are priced at Dh25 and Dh40, and are available in major malls across the country.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
