Biggest Lottery Winners From India

Imagine becoming a millionaire at the young age of 22. Sandeep Singh, also known as Sunny, became one by buying the tickets for the Mega Millions lottery with $4 which he won through a scratch card. The story behind this fortunate event is no less than a Bollywood movie. Being a hardworking individual, Sunny went through the ups and downs in life and heartbreak when his girlfriend dumped him. His adamant nature made him believe that one day he will hit the jackpot, which eventually happened just days after his breakup. The grand jackpot of $61 million was divided between Sandeep and another winner. A fraction of the $31.5 million he got was used to pay off his mother’s debt and towards charity. 

Another Indian living in Canada became a millionaire by buying a ticket to the Ontario 49 lottery after listening to an advertisement on the radio. It was a too-good-to-believe situation for Tahir Ali and his wife. They were overjoyed after learning about their big win and even happier that this will secure the future of their children and support their education to a great extent. 

A subscription made for the US Powerball by this Indian-origin student studying in Chicago made him a millionaire sooner than he expected. Nirmal Damodarsamy bought a subscription to US Powerball, a service many online lottery platforms offer, to buy tickets to the next draw automatically. Being a fortunate one, Nirmal bagged the $1 million prize in the first attempt, with just a Powerball number being unmatched. This turned out to be a graduation gift for him as he intended to use this money to sponsor his family’s travel and stay for his graduation. 

With his roots in India, Balraj Awasthi worked as a chef in Toronto, Canada. He bought a lottery ticket with the hopes of winning the jackpot and making his dreams of travelling the world and owning a business in Canada come true. Little did he know that his prayers were going to be answered. In February 2017, we won a whopping amount of $12.8 million. 

When you are a regular player and know how low the odds of winning a draw are, it is difficult to believe when you actually win. Just like a few other winners on this list, Prasanth Parasuraman came to know about his big win almost after a week after the draw. An Indian residing in Canada, Prasanth usually bought his tickets only on Fridays. He bought this winning ticket on another day of the week and forgot about it. When he scanned his ticket, he deemed that $286,000 was only $286. He was later informed by the ticket retailer that his winnings were six figures. Prasanth put this money towards fulfilling his dreams to travel, buy a house and start his own business.

Just like Nirmal Damodarsamy, the five numbers on Ushakiran’s US Powerball ticket matched the drawn numbers. She won the $1 million prize after picking random numbers on the ticket. An India-origin retiree, living in America, she was unsure of what she would do with the grand prize. However, it will help her have a smooth and relaxed retirement period. 

The probability of matching all six numbers on a lottery ticket is quite low. However, Hira Singh was fortunate enough to be the lucky one. In March 2019, Hira Singh, an Indian residing in Kansas, US, bought a Mega Millions lottery ticket. He was regular with his purchase and bought this lucky ticket for a Tuesday draw while travelling for work. After missing the live draw announcement, he went to scan his ticket with numbers 10-12-16-49-57 and mega ball number 18. What the machine showed was unbelievable for him or anyone in his shoes. This made him rescan his ticket three times before he believed that all the numbers on his ticket matched the draw and he had won the massive jackpot of $50 million. 

How old is the youngest lottery winner in the world? The answer may shock you. Mohammad Salah was only one year old when he won $1 million. While all the international lotteries allow only people above 18 years to buy the ticket, Dubai Duty-Free allows buyers to register the ticket under someone else’s name. Ramsee Rahman, Mohammad Salah’s father, registered it under his name. He was an Indian expatriate in Dubai who won this huge prize for the bright future of his son. 

Lingaraju D is one of the blessed lottery winners who won big money on the popular lottery website in India. Buying international lotteries in India is convenient, but it turned out to be highly fortunate to this retired health inspector who won $514,000 after five out of six numbers on his ticket matched the drawn numbers on the Mega Millions lottery. He was just one number away from winning the $351 million jackpot. However, his winnings were enough to secure his retirement period, which he can spend lavishly. 

Another big win by Lottoland India winners through one of the popular lottery websites in India was by Partho Mondal. He played the Lottoland exclusive lottery game, Malamaal Daily, which is quite popular amongst Indians and organises daily draws at the price of just INR 40 per ticket. The “Quick Pick” option turned out to be lucky for him as it did for a few others as well in this list. The numbers 03-05-14-30-31 landed him a big win of approximately INR 53 lakh. The kind-hearted man said that he would use the money to help his family and friends in need and will pay off all his debts.