South African National Lottery Overview
The South African National Lottery is operated by Ithuba which received its operating license in 2015. The National Lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission which was established in 2000. Players need to be at least 18 to play the lottery in South Africa.
Buy South African National Lottery Tickets
South Africans can purchase tickets in person at South African banks or approved retailers. If they have a Nedbank or FNB bank account, they can purchase the tickets online at the official website of the South African National Lottery after first registering an account there. Only residents of South Africa who hold a valid South African ID are eligible to purchase tickets online.
Holders of accounts at FNB and Nedbank can download the banks’ apps and purchase tickets to the Lotto, the Lotto Plus, the PowerBall, and the PowerBall Plus on the banks’ apps. Players can play all the South African National Lottery games—Lotto, Lotto Plus, PowerBall, PowerBall Plus, and Sportstake 13—on the official website of the South African National Lottery.
Alternatively, South Africans can purchase tickets to the South African National Lottery games through independent ticket purchasing agencies such as TheLotter, the first service of its kind in South Africa. We recommend TheLotter because South African players can use it to purchase tickets to lottery games held not only in South Africa, but also in other parts of the world. The best thing about TheLotter is that it doesn’t cut any commission from players’ winnings.
South African National Lottery Latest Results
| Date | Numbers | Est. Jackpot |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-03 | 4 12 20 34 46 49 31 |
R 11 Million |
| 2021-06-30 | 8 10 29 37 38 50 30 |
R 8 Million |
| 2021-06-26 | 2 5 11 15 29 33 21 |
R 5 Million |
| 2021-06-23 | 12 30 35 38 43 52 34 |
R 3 Million |
South African National Lottery History
When the South African National Lottery was established on March 11, 2000, it was operated by Uthingo. The credit of launching an effective marketing campaign and boosting ticket sales goes to Uthingo. In 2000, Uthingo successfully reached out to 80% of South African households. As a result of this, over 800,000 tickets were sold on the very first day. During Uthingo’s first three weeks at the helm of the South African National Lottery, it sold tickets worth R70 million.
In spite of the efficacy of its marketing campaigns, Uthingo’s efforts to launch a new lottery game in October 2002 failed because the trade and industry ministry refused to approve it. But the company successfully launched the Lotto Plus in November 2003.
Uthingo lost its operating license in 2006, and the following year, the license was awarded to Gidani. During this time, the lottery had to be shut down for a few months. When the games were re-launched, over 200,000 tickets were purchased during the very first three hours.
In 2015, Ithuba obtained the license to operate the lottery games. The company launched two brand new games called PowerBall Plus and EAZiWIN the same year.
South African National Lottery Statistics
During the financial year 2007 – 08, the total lottery ticket transaction value touched the R3.972 billion mark. On an average, five million transactions were processed every week. In 2012, the South African National Lottery sold PowerBall and Lotto tickets worth R4.7 billion. Although the most popular lottery game in South Africa is the Lotto, the PowerBall is fast gaining popularity in recent years because of its large jackpot.
South African National Lottery games have generated several winners, and here is just a brief list.
- In Feb 2010, a middle class couple who operated their own business won a PowerBall jackpot worth R91 million. Unfortunately, the family had to flee to an undisclosed location after strangers turned up at their house and demanded money from them.
- A year ago, a factory worker residing in Soweto won a Lotto jackpot worth R20 million.
Prize Structure
The South African National Lottery operates nine games. Here are the odds and jackpots of some of them:
Lotto: The Lotto requires players to select six numbers from the number range 1 - 52 along with a bonus number. To win a prize, players have to match at least three numbers. If they match all six, they will win the jackpot, but the odds of doing this are just one in 13,983,816.
Lotto Plus: The Lotto Plus is an extension of the Lotto, following the same rules, payout structure, and odds. However, the prizes are lower than those of the Lotto. This game gives Lotto players another opportunity to win a prize.
PowerBall: PowerBall players have to select five numbers from the number range 1 – 45 and a PowerBall number from the number range 1 – 20. Players who match the PowerBall number and the main five numbers will win the top jackpot.
The biggest PowerBall jackpot generated and won was R102,016,595, but the lucky winner never collected the prize. The biggest claimed PowerBall jackpot was worth R91,068,427.
PowerBall Plus: Like Lotto Plus, PowerBall Plus is an extension of the PowerBall and gives PowerBall players another opportunity to win. The odds of winning PowerBall Plus are the same as those for winning PowerBall, but the prizes are smaller. PowerBall Plus is also the newest game introduced by the South African National Lottery on Nov 28, 2015.
Sportstake 13: This game rewards players for correctly guessing the results of 13 pre-determined professional soccer fixtures. Players have to purchase a bet slip and choose their predictions for home wins, draws, and home loss for each fixture. Players can select as many results as they wish for each fixture, but they must select at least one result per fixture.
EAZiWIN: These are online scratchcards that are not scratched off like the regular scratchcards, but compared against slips. These games are based on many traditional South African games.
Pick 3: Launched on Dec 3, 2016, this is a daily game with a top jackpot of R10,000.
Charitable Causes and Sponsorships
Revenue generated from South African National Lottery games are distributed as follows: 34% is diverted to a central “good causes” fund, 6% is paid as commission to retailers, 10% is spent on operating the lottery games, and 50% is paid as prizes to winners.