Many South Africans buy a Lotto or PowerBall ticket with the same dream: win the jackpot, walk away from the drudgery of daily life, forget about financial troubles. We’re often filled with hope, but at the same time thinking it’s totally unrealistic.
Yet, people do win. And they win big. South African lotteries turn paupers into millionaires every week; it could happen to you too. These are the biggest winners in the country’s history.
Biggest PowerBall Win: R232 Million
The person who has the biggest PowerBall jackpot to his name has remained anonymous; all we can say is that he is a man in his 50s, hailing from Cape Town. But if you’d won R252 million, wouldn’t you want to stay unknown too?
He picked his own numbers, spending just R22.50 on a single ticket, matching all numbers. Talk about luck! He didn’t let the win go to his head, however, deciding to retain his blue-collar job and invest the winnings in education for his children.
PowerBall Second Place: R145 Million
R20 in, R145 million back. Not a bad return on investment, right? This is what happened to a 34-year-old engineer who calls Secunda home. On 3 August 2018, his life changed forever with his major win.
He was so shocked by his matching numbers that he didn’t collect his winnings straight away. He kept his ticket tucked away in his sock, just trying to absorb what had just happened to him. Not only that, he was scared about leaving his house in case something happened! Four days later, he finally decided it was time, and he called in his nine-figure amount.
Third Spot: R141 Million
Not quite R145 million, but close enough. The player who was on holiday in the Western Cape won’t be complaining, in any case. He almost didn’t enter PowerBall that week, but a dream where his wife was covered completely in gold sprinkles inspired him to take a punt. He’s usually a Sportstake player, so the dream changed everything!
Biggest Online Winner: R135 Million
The traditional way of buying a PowerBall ticket, which involves a trip to an authorized reseller, is quickly losing its top spot to online buying options. 2020 has only served to speed up this transition, for obvious reasons.
So it’s no surprise that big winners are now coming from online ticket sales. The jackpot had been rolling over month after month, until a lucky punter from KwaZulu-Natal picked the right combination of numbers with an online purchase. The result? R135 million.
Biggest Lotto Winners: R110 Million
Now let’s turn our attention to the biggest lotto payouts, starting with the #1 spot. The R110 jackpot needed a staggering 21 rollovers, with not a single punter hitting the winning numbers for almost three months.
The total prize was actually a lot bigger than R110 million, but there were a total of four winning tickets. The last one to come forward waited almost an entire year, he was so shocked when he checked the latest lotto results and payouts seeing he got the winning numbers, that he was leaving it to the very last minute: he literally left a single day before the ticket’s expiration date!
Feel-Good Number 2: R79 Million
The second spot is taken up by a real feel-good story. The winner, hailing from Cape Town, reeled in a massive R79 million. She showed her generous side by promising to give a sizable share of her prize to a helpful petrol attendant that had regularly served her through the years. Lesson: always be nice to your customers!
The rest of her money was also driven by generosity, intending to pay for her daughter to study for her dream job as a psychologist, giving her enough money to leave her job at a call center. For herself, she bought a house with a nice big garden so that she could invite her grandson over to play!
Mother’s Day Gift: R58 Million
In third place, we have the best Mother’s Day present you could ever wish for: R58 million! The winner, who is in her 50s, was elated; she usually buys PowerBall tickets but on this occasion she decided to change things up, noticing that this time the jackpot was particularly tasty.
Winning didn’t drive her out of the office early, however. She continued working for six months, ensuring she handed everything over to her successor. Early retirement followed. We can’t blame her!
Will You Join the List?
Playing the weekly Lotto or Powerball has a ritualistic element. We get together with friends or colleagues, buying tickets as a group, hoping that one day our lives will change forever. Or we simply buy a ticket online on a whim, tempted by the grand jackpot.
But do we ever really expect to win? Probably not. It seems like something that only happens to people in movies. Yet, a regular person always wins. Who knows, maybe next time it will be you!