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Ithuba is a privately-owned company who were granted the lottery operating license in 2015. Ithuba National Lottery is mandated to raise revenue from SA Lotto and other lotteries under its license to support charitable causes in South Africa.
The national lottery was launched in South Africa in March 2000 and became known as SA Lotto. Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 were launched as an extension product to increase players’ chances of winning and SA Powerball was launched in 2009. SA Lotto is the best known and most popular lottery game in South Africa but Powerball has been the fastest-growing game mainly because of its high jackpot payouts.
You have the option of playing SA Lotto, Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2. All three games are part of the national lottery but the Lotto Plus games give you a better chance of winning a cash payout.
The minimum jackpot amount for SA Lotto is set at R2 million. The highest Lotto payout to date is R110 million which was shared by 4 winners (each Lotto payout was R27.5 million).
The minimal jackpot amount is set to R2 million.
The South African national lottery includes the Lotto game and two Lotto Plus games. The Lotto Plus games are exactly the same as the Lotto game. The difference is the Lotto Plus games give players a greater chance to win prize money for a small extra cost.
You can play Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 at the same time you play Lotto. The game boards you enter for Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 must be the same as the Lotto boards you play.
Players choose 6 numbers (5 + 1 Bonus Ball) between 1 and 52. You can do this manually or select Quick Pick which automatically generates 6 random numbers for you.
Manually choose 6 numbers from 1 to 52 on as many boards as you want to play or they are automatically generated for you by the Quick Pick option. You can play as many boards as you want to which increases your chance of winning the Lotto jackpot.
Six numbers are randomly generated in each draw: 5 regular numbers and the Bonus Ball. The extra bonus number only affects players who match 5 numbers to win the Lotto jackpot.
Select the Multi-Draw option which allows you to play the same numbers over multiple draws. This increases your chance of winning the Lotto jackpot.
To win the Lotto jackpot, you need 6 matched numbers (5 plus Bonus Ball). SA Lotto has 8 prize tiers so you have a chance of winning a cash payout even if you don’t get 6 matched numbers. Cash payouts are awarded to players who match at least 3 of the 6 drawn numbers and the cash prize increases with the more numbers matched.
The jackpot is shared among all players in each draw who match all 6 numbers. If no player matches all 6 numbers, the Lotto jackpot rolls over to the next Lotto draw. The tier prizes are shared with players who match 3, 4 or 5 matched numbers.
The cost of a Lotto bet slip is R5 per board. Fill in as many boards as you want to play. If you play a Lotto Plus game, the numbers will be applied to all the boards you have filled in on the betslip.
The odds of winning SA Lotto is 1 in 20 358 520. Ticket sales for Lotto and the Lotto Plus games close at 20h30 on the day of the draw.
The SA Lotto draw takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 20h56 on the national television station, SABC 2.
Lotto Plus 1 is exactly the same as Lotto but it gives you a second chance to win the Lotto jackpot. You can enter the Lotto Plus 1 draw for an additional R2.50 per board and you can play as many boards as you want.
To play Lotto Plus 1, select the Lotto Plus 1 option on your betslip and pay the additional cost. You can only play Lotto Plus 1 if you have played Lotto.
The odds of winning Lotto Plus 1 is the same as Lotto but the cash prizes are slightly lower.
The Lotto Plus 1 draw takes place right after the Lotto draw which takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 20h56 on SABC 2.
Ticket sales for Lotto and the Lotto Plus games close at 20h30 on the day of the draw.
The single cost of a Lotto board is R5 (including VAT) and the additional cost to play Lotto Plus 1 is R2.50 (including VAT).
is exactly the same as Lotto but it gives you a third chance of winning the Lotto jackpot. You can enter the Lotto Plus 2 draw for an additional R2.50 per board and you can play as many boards as you want.
select the Lotto Plus 2 option on your betslip and pay the additional cost. You can only play Lotto Plus 2 if you have played Lotto and Lotto Plus 1.
Lotto Plus 2 are the same as the odds of winning Lotto and Lotto Plus 1.
takes place right after the Lotto Plus 1 draw which takes place after the Lotto draw on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 20h56 on SABC 2.
for Lotto and the Lotto Plus games close at 20h30 on the day of the draw.
of a Lotto board is R5 (including VAT) and the additional cost to play Lotto Plus 2 is R2.50 (including VAT).
You can legally play the Lotto and Lotto Plus games in South Africa if you are a foreigner but you won’t be able to buy a ticket through the official website for Ithuba National Lottery. Your only option is to buy a Lotto ticket at a lottery retail outlet or through an official Ithuba handheld provider.
To bet online through the official Ithuba National Lottery website, you need to register for a free account and must supply a valid South African identity number.
Bear in mind that prize money for South African lotteries is only paid into South African bank accounts. You are required to present proof that the bank account where the Daily Lotto prize money will be deposited is your own personal bank account. To have your winnings paid out, you need to have a valid passport and a valid entry visa.
The other option is to play Daily Lotto on an online lottery site such as Lottoland that places a bet on your behalf and guarantees to pay out any winnings. Prize winnings are paid directly into your online account which you transfer to your personal account.
There are different ways to bet on SA Lotto and the Lotto Plus games and there are different ways to claim your lottery winnings. Follow this step-by step guide to claiming your lottery winnings regardless of how much money you have won on the Lotto.
The national lottery of South Africa was launched in March. It was originally operated under license by Uthingo but it was taken over by Ithuba National Lottery in 2015. The national lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission.
Ithuba National Lotter is a privately-owned enterprise in South Africa. It was founded by Zamani Equity Fund and is registered with Companies Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).
The national lottery was popular from the day it launched. More than 800 000 tickets were sold on 11 March when it was made available to the South African public and within three weeks, nearly R70 million worth of tickets had been sold.
Ithuba National Lottery launched the Lotto Plus games as an extension of the Lotto game to increase players chances of winning the Lotto jackpot. Today, Ithuba National Lottery offers 8 lottery games of which SA Lotto, SA Powerball and Daily Lotto are the most popular.
Ithuba National Lottery was awarded the license in 2015 for the national lottery on the mandated proviso that income generated from the lottery games is used to fund charitable projects. An NGO or charity must be registered with Ithuba National Lottery to receive money from the organisation.
Rank | Jackpot | Game | Date | Winners details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | R232 131 750 | Powerball | 2019-02-19 | 1 winner: man in his 50s |
2 | R145 469 799 | Powerball | 2018-08-03 | 1 winner: man in his 30s |
3 | R141 343 180 | Powerball | 2019-08-23 | 1 winner: man in his 50s |
4 | R114 580 902 | Powerball | 2020-02-04 | 1 winner: woman in her 30s |
5 | R114 242 816 | Powerball | 2019-11-26 | 1 winner: man in his 30s |
6 | R110 000 000 | Lotto | 2018-01-27 | 4 winners: each won R27.5 million |
MATCH | ODDS OF WINNING | % OF TOTAL WINNING POOL |
---|---|---|
All 6 | 1 in 20 358 520 | 73.0% |
5 and Bonus Ball | 1 in 3 393 087 | 2.3% |
5 | 1 in 75 402 | 4.0% |
4 and Bonus Ball | 1 in 30 161 | 5.0% |
4 | 1 in 1 371 | 8.4% |
3 and Bonus Ball | 1 in 1 028 | 7.3% |
3 | 1 in 72 | Lotto R50 Lotto Plus R25 |
2 and Bonus Ball | 1 in 96 | Lotto R20 Lotto Plus R15 |
Game | Draw | Odds of winning the jackpot |
---|---|---|
SA Lotto SA Lotto Plus 1 SA Lotto Plus 2 | – Draw Wednesday and Saturday at 21h00 – 6/52 game – The cost of each LOTTO board is R5 including VAT – The cost of LOTTO PLUS 1 and PLUS 2 is an additional cost of R2.50 including VAT – The 3 SA Lotto games are drawn consecutively | – 1 in 20 358 520 – Highest SA Lotto jackpot was paid out in 2019: R110 million (won by 4 players who each received R27.5 million) |
SA Lotto Plus 1 SA Powerball Plus | – Draw Tuesday and Friday at 21h00 – 5/50 game – The cost of each SA Powerball board is R5 including VAT – The cost of playing Powerball Pluss is an additional R2.50 including VAT | – 1 in 42 375 200 (5+1) – Highest SA Powerball jackpot was paid out in 2019: R232 million plus paid out to 1 winner |
There were 4 winning tickets for the biggest Lotto payout since the game was launched. Each player took home R27.5 million. It took 21 jackpot roll-overs to create the R110 million jackpot with no winners for 2&half months. One of the lucky winners took a full year to claim his/her prize and claimed it one day before it expired.
Won by a player in Cape Town.
Won by a player in Cape Town who usually only played SA Powerball but decided to give Lotto a chance because the jackpot was so high.
Won by two lucky ticket holders.
Won by two lucky ticket holders; one was a retired gentleman who ran an organisation for the elderly and children living with disabilities. He insisted part of his winnings would be used to support the community care centre.
The Lotto draw takes place every Wednesday and Saturday and 6 numbers are drawn at random (5 regular numbers plus a Bonus Ball). Each number has an equal chance of being drawn and there is not magical or scientific way to predict the lucky Lotto numbers.
However, you can increase your chance of increasing the size of your cash winnings and your chances of winning the Lotto jackpot with these useful tips:
Buy more tickets; be careful because you can waste a lot of money but the more times you enter a lottery, the greater your chances are of winning
Form a lottery syndicate and gather money from keen players so you can buy more tickets and enter SA Lotto more often
Don’t choose consecutive numbers (5-5-5); statistics show that consecutive numbers are rarely drawn
Avoid choosing numbers that fall within the same number group or end with a similar digit
Avoid using ‘popular numbers’ because many other people choose them and it increase the chance that you will share your prize winnings
Don’t be fooled by scams or promises of ‘how to predict winning Daily Lotto numbers’; each number in the lottery has an equal probability of being chosen as a winning number and no software in the world has been invented that can predict the exact winning numbers for a lottery.
The South African national lottery is hugely popular and has been since the day it was launched on 11 March 2000. More than 800 tickets were sold that day and within three weeks, nearly R70 million worth of tickets had been sold.
There has been a dip in sales at certain periods in South Africa but on the whole, the national lottery remains as popular as ever. To give you an example, in the 2007 fiscal year, the national lottery transaction value was R3 972 billion with an average of 5 million transactions per week. In 2012. The national lottery generated R4.7 billion in sales from Lotto and Powerball ticket sales.
The majority of players (73%) who play the lottery in South Africa are low-income earners, earning less than R5 000 a month. Of that group, at least a third (33%) earn R1 000 a month or less. This statistic is in line with most countries where the poor in local communities put their hopes in earning a big cash payout from the national lottery.
Someone contacts you either by email, text message or phone to say you have won a lot of money on a competition using your name and details from something like a promotion or research survey. You are requested to pay a fee to claim your prize which is to cover the cost of transferring the money to your account.
You’re also asked to provide your banking details where the money should be paid out. The email or text is always ‘urgent’ and you’re told to respond quickly or risk losing out on the prize money.
The scammers make money from the ‘fee’ you pay them or they use your banking details to take wipe out your bank account.
People do fall for these lottery scams because the scammers are masters at what they do. They usually have obtained your personal information which makes it sound like a legitimate deal. Sometimes, the scammers even send you money as ‘part of your winnings’. This cheque will bounce but often only after you have given them more information and money they ask for.
You receive correspondence via email, text or phone to say you’ve won a guaranteed prize in a lottery or competition but you never bought a ticket or entered the competition.
The scammer claims you are a winner using personal email and social media information that makes it look genuine.
To claim your prize, the scammers ask you to buy pay a fee or tax on the prize money.
You’re asked to provide personal details such as your ID and contact details such as a postal address as well as banking details for the electronic transfer.
Ignore anything that is suspicious. Do not even reply to a message saying you’ve won a large cash prize or even something like a fancy holiday, electronic goods or gifts.
Never pay a fee to win a prize. Ithuba National Lottery does not charge a fee for any prize-winning transaction and the only way they can access your banking details is from the authorised Prize Claim Form that your are required to complete.
Don’t trust anyone who asks you to send them money or give your credit card, banking details or copies of personal information in exchange for prize money.
SA Lotto is South Africa’s national lottery and one of the most popular lottery games available in South Africa. The 6/52 game is drawn every Wednesday and Saturday at 20h56 and you have until 20h30 to place a bet. The odds of winning Daily Lotto 1 in 20 358 520.
Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 are the same as Lotto and have the same winning odds. The two add-on games offer players a second and third chance of winning the Lotto jackpot or any cash prizes from the other 7 prize tiers.
To win the SA Lotto jackpot, you need 6 matched numbers (5 regular numbers and the Bonus Ball). There are 8 prize divisions in lottery game.
SA Lotto is very easy to play and you can buy tickets from a lottery retail store, from an authorised handheld provider, online on the Ithuba National Lottery website or using a banking app or ATM. The leading banks of South Africa have partnered with Ithuba to give players easy online access to the lottery game.
If no-one wins the Lotto jackpot, the prize money rolls over to the next draw.
For more information on how to play SA Lotto and how to claim your Lotto winning payout, consult a representative at Ithuba National Lottery. SA Lotto is operated by Ithuba under license and regulated by the National Lottery Commission.
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Stay up to date with all the latest Lotto news and Lotto Results by following us on social media.