From a Scroll on Instagram to Dh5 Million
For most people, a quick scroll through Instagram ends with nothing more than a few minutes lost to the feed. For Zenn Ariane Garceles, it ended with the discovery that her life had just changed forever.
The 38-year-old Filipina expat, who has called Dubai home for the past 13 years, has become The UAE Lottery’s first female millionaire after winning the Dh5 million Second Prize in the Lucky Day Draw. Her win, using an Easy Pick ticket with randomly generated numbers, makes her the third player in the game’s history to claim that prize tier — and the first woman to do so.
An Ordinary Evening, an Extraordinary Discovery
Garceles’ path to the win began unremarkably. A former dental assistant who has played The UAE Lottery since its early days, she regularly took part in the twice-weekly Lucky Day Draw and occasionally tried her hand at other games such as Scratch Cards. On the evening of her win, she came across an Instagram post revealing that someone had claimed a Dh5 million prize. Curious rather than hopeful, she logged into her own account simply to compare the winning numbers.
What she found instead was a message congratulating her on winning the very prize she had just read about. The moment, by her own account, was almost impossible to process. She and her husband initially struggled to believe what was on the screen, waking each other to confirm the number of zeros displayed, before eventually reaching out to close friends to verify that the win was genuine. “Once we knew for sure, we all burst into tears,” she later said. “It was an unforgettable moment, really.”
Thirteen Years in the Making
Garceles’ story carries an emotional weight that extends beyond the prize money itself. She first left the Philippines more than a decade ago with a clear goal: to help fund her sister’s education. In the years since, Dubai has become far more than a place of work — it’s where she met her husband, built a family, and put down roots that now shape how she talks about her future.
“My life in the UAE has been amazing,” she said. “I met my husband here and built my family here.” Among the first people she called after confirming the win was her father back in the Philippines, a moment she described as especially meaningful. She now hopes to bring him to the UAE for a family visit, a plan she says has been on her mind for years but previously felt out of reach.
Plans for the Windfall
True to the instinct that first brought her to the UAE, Garceles says her priorities for the prize money centre firmly on family rather than personal indulgence. Her plans include investing in her children’s education, exploring potential business opportunities, and buying her husband a car. She has also spoken about wanting to give her daughter a long-promised trip, and about finally being in a position to consider buying an apartment for the family.
“I can’t really think of what I would buy for myself,” she said, “because I’m happy knowing that I can share it with my family. Being with them and seeing their smiles makes me happy.” Asked whether the win might tempt her to eventually leave the UAE, Garceles was unequivocal: Dubai remains home, and she has no plans to return to the Philippines permanently.
A Growing List of UAE Lottery Success Stories
Garceles’ win adds to a fast-growing catalogue of major payouts from The UAE Lottery, which is fully regulated by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority. The game’s format has evolved significantly over the past year: after an Abu Dhabi-based IT professional claimed the lottery’s largest-ever single jackpot of Dh100 million in an earlier draw, organisers restructured the prize tiers, introducing a Dh30 million Grand Prize alongside a newly created Dh5 million Second Prize — the very tier Garceles has now claimed.
Earlier this year, a Nepalese security guard based in Abu Dhabi became the first winner under the new format, sharing a Dh30 million prize with four friends. Garceles’ win, following shortly after two separate Dh30 million jackpots were claimed within weeks of each other, brings total payouts across just three recent wins to roughly Dh65 million over a three-month stretch — a run that has drawn considerable attention to the game across the UAE’s diverse expatriate community.
A Story That Resonates Across the UAE
For the UAE’s large Filipino community, and for expatriates more broadly, Garceles’ story taps into something familiar: the long journey of building a life far from home, and the hope that hard work and a little luck might one day pay off in dramatic fashion. As she prepares to reunite with family and plan for her children’s future, Garceles’ win stands as a reminder of the UAE’s continued pull as a place where, for some, extraordinary things really can happen. Next Article
