Big Ticket Abu Dhabi: Price, Next Draw, Odds and Winners

Big Ticket Abu Dhabi is the UAE’s longest-running raffle: a AED 500 ticket enters you into a live draw on the 3rd of every month, with a grand prize of AED 15–30 million, consolation prizes, a Big Spin wheel worth up to AED 1 million and weekly e-draws.

It has run at Abu Dhabi’s airport since 1992 and is one of only two pre-existing draws the federal regulator, the GCGRA, allows to continue. Big Ticket does not cap or publish the number of tickets sold — but the winning ticket numbers suggest that each draw has hundreds of thousands of entries.

This guide explains how Big Ticket works, what tickets cost, when and where the draws take place, who can play, how to claim a prize and who has won in 2026. It also does something Big Ticket does not: it uses the published winning ticket numbers to estimate your real chance of winning and what a ticket is worth on average. Last updated: 19 October 2026.

News · Published 19 October 2026

Big Ticket at a Glance

How Big Ticket Works

Big Ticket is a raffle, not a lottery. You do not pick numbers: you buy a numbered ticket, and the tickets go into a drum from which winners are drawn. Each monthly promotion is a “series” — the October 2026 draw was Series 291 — and every ticket bought during the month enters that month’s draws.

• The cash draw — on the 3rd of the month, one ticket wins the grand prize and several more win consolation prizes. Big Ticket’s help centre says the draw is conducted manually in the arrivals hall of the Abu Dhabi airport, supervised by Big Ticket staff and airport officials, and it is streamed live.
• The Big Spin — introduced in 2026 in place of the old Big Win Contest. Every AED 500 ticket bought during the promotion is an entry; three entrants are drawn at the live show and come back the following month to spin a 20-segment wheel. Seventeen segments are cash prizes from AED 50,000 to AED 1 million, and three are “spin again”.
• Weekly e-draws — during the promotion, extra prizes are drawn electronically each week from the tickets already sold. In December 2025, for example, five ticket holders won AED 100,000 each every week; some months award gold instead.
• The Dream Car draw — a separate raffle with its own AED 150 tickets. Each car promotion runs for two months and is drawn on the 3rd alongside the cash draw.

Big Ticket Price List

Big Ticket regularly runs multi-buy offers. Its help centre has long described a “2+1” promotion — one free ticket when you buy two — and stresses that it applies only to tickets bought in a single transaction: two tickets bought a week apart do not qualify. Offers change from month to month, so check the current one before buying. With a 2+1 offer, each ticket effectively costs about AED 333.

Prizes are paid in full: Big Ticket’s help centre says no VAT is charged on cash prizes. Tickets cannot be refunded after a draw; refunds are given only for technical problems with an online purchase before the draw date.

Next Draw: Date, Time and How to Watch

The cash draw takes place on the 3rd of every month at 7:30pm UAE time and is broadcast live on Big Ticket’s YouTube channel and social media. The next draw is on 3 November 2026, with a guaranteed AED 25 million grand prize and gold bars for the consolation winners.

Ticket sales for a series close at the end of the month. According to Big Ticket’s help centre, the last moment to buy is 11:45pm on the website and 11:59pm in store on the 30th or 31st. Weekly e-draw results are also published on YouTube.

The winning ticket numbers are announced live during the broadcast.

Where to Buy Big Ticket

• Online at bigticket.ae, with a credit or debit card — some banks decline online debit-card payments, so check with yours.
• At the airport counters in Zayed International Airport, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain International Airport.
• At selected retail points in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

Big Ticket’s website is not available from every country. If you cannot open it, use an airport counter rather than an unofficial reseller. Buy only from these official channels: tickets sold through social media, WhatsApp groups or “agents” are not genuine.

Is there a Big Ticket in Dubai?

No. Big Ticket is based at Abu Dhabi’s airport and sells online and in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Searches for “Dubai Big Ticket” usually mean this draw, or the separate Dubai Duty Free raffle at Dubai International Airport, compared below.

Who Can Play Big Ticket?

• Age — you must be 18 or over; Big Ticket does not allow minors to enter.
• Residents and non-residents — the draw is open to many nationalities, including people living outside the UAE, who can buy online. Big Ticket asks them to check their own country’s laws first.
• United States — according to Big Ticket’s help centre, foreign nationals living in the US can buy only at the counter, not online.
• Tickets for children — a parent can buy a ticket in a child’s name through a sub-account, but any prize cheque is made out to the parent.

Many winners play in groups that split the cost of tickets and share any prize — the AED 35 million record and the October 2026 AED 20 million prize were both shared by groups of colleagues and friends. If you join one, agree in writing who buys the tickets, how the prize is split and whose name is on the ticket, because the prize is paid to the ticket holder.

What Are the Odds of Winning Big Ticket?

Big Ticket does not publish odds. Its help centre states that “there is no cap or limit to the total number of participants per month”, so the chance of winning depends entirely on how many tickets are sold. But the numbers on the winning tickets give a clue.

If tickets are numbered in sequence, a draw that produces ticket 476,107 had at least that many tickets in the drum. That would put the chance of any one ticket winning the grand prize at 1 in about 476,000 or longer in July 2026, and 1 in about 321,000 or longer in October.

What a ticket is worth on average

Dividing each draw’s cash prizes by that minimum number of tickets gives an upper estimate of what a ticket returns on average:

• July 2026: AED 30 million in cash prizes (AED 25 million plus five AED 1 million prizes) across at least 476,107 tickets is at most about AED 63 per ticket — 12.6% of a AED 500 ticket, or about 19% if you bought on a 2+1 offer.
• October 2026: AED 21.95 million across at least 320,975 tickets is at most about AED 68 per ticket — 13.7% of AED 500.

Our estimate. It assumes ticket numbers run in sequence, includes only the main cash prizes, and leaves out the Big Spin and weekly e-draws, which add a little. More tickets than the highest number shown would make each ticket worth less.

For comparison, a AED 50 UAE Lottery Lucky Day entry returns about 40% of its price on average, and a Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire ticket about 70% of its AED 1,050 price including VAT. Big Ticket pays a multi-million grand prize every month, but on these estimates it has the lowest average return. Our UAE Lottery guide explains how those figures are calculated.

Big Ticket Winners in 2026

Most grand prize winners are Indian, Filipino, Pakistani and Bangladeshi residents of the UAE and the Gulf — which reflects who buys the tickets, not any advantage. Winners do not have to be in the UAE: in October 2026 the winner was asleep in the Philippines when Big Ticket called her at 1:30am local time. In the same draw, five consolation prizes of AED 1 million, AED 500,000, AED 250,000 and two of AED 100,000 went to residents of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai and Muscat.

The biggest Big Ticket win

The record is AED 35 million, won in Series 247 on 3 January 2023 by Md Rayful, a Bangladeshi driver living in Al Ain, with ticket 043678. He had been buying tickets for nine years and shared the prize with a group of 20 friends.

How to Claim a Big Ticket Prize

1. Big Ticket contacts you using the phone number and email on your ticket, and publishes the winners on its website and social media. Make sure your contact details are correct when you buy.
2. You collect the prize at Big Ticket’s office in Abu Dhabi — its help centre places it at the airport — where cash prizes are paid by cheque.
3. You bring the same photo ID you used to buy the ticket. If you gave a wrong ID number, contact customer service before the draw.
4. If you lose a paper ticket, a store purchase is subject to “extensive verification” to prove you are the holder; online tickets can be reissued as an e-ticket.
5. Car prizes are not exchanged for cash by Big Ticket, although dealers often buy the car back from winners.

Big Ticket customer service is on +971 2 2019244, Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 6pm, according to its help centre.

Is Big Ticket Legal in the UAE?

Yes. When the UAE created a federal gaming regulator, the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), Big Ticket paused its operations on 1 April 2024 to align with the new rules. It announced on 9 May 2024 that it was resuming, and held its next draw on 3 June 2024, saying the pause had given it the chance to “assess and confirm its readiness to adhere to the evolving regulatory landscape set by the GCGRA”.

On 9 December 2024 the GCGRA confirmed that Big Ticket and the Dubai Duty Free draws — the two long-running airport draws — may continue to operate under its supervision, alongside the single national lottery licence held by The Game LLC. All other pre-existing lotteries, including Mahzooz and Emirates Draw, were ordered to shut down. Our Mahzooz article tells that story, and our UAE gambling laws guide covers the full framework.

Big Ticket vs The UAE Lottery vs Dubai Duty Free

Each has a different appeal. The UAE Lottery is cheap per entry with frequent draws; Big Ticket pays a grand prize of up to AED 30 million every month, with a far better chance of the top prize than the lottery; Dubai Duty Free has by far the best odds and average return, at the highest ticket price.

Big Ticket Scams to Avoid

• “You have won” messages from numbers or accounts that are not Big Ticket’s — especially if you did not buy a ticket — are scams. Big Ticket contacts winners using the details on their ticket.
• Requests for a fee to release a prize are fraudulent. Prizes are paid in full and collected in person.
• Ticket “agents” and group schemes on social media that take your money and promise a share of a ticket give you no claim to any prize.
• Lookalike websites and “results” pages can show wrong numbers. Check results on Big Ticket’s own website and channels.

Play Responsibly

At AED 500 a ticket, Big Ticket is an expensive habit: one ticket a month is AED 6,000 a year, for a prize that most players will never win. Decide in advance how much you can afford, never buy tickets with money meant for rent, family or remittances, and do not chase a draw because the jackpot is large. If gambling is causing you or someone close to you difficulty, confidential help is available from BeGambleAware.

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