Biggest Lotto and Powerball Wins in South Africa

Winning the South African Lotto or Powerball can be life changing, thanks to some of the huge jackpot payouts.  There have been few big winners of the SA Lotto since lotto was launched back in 2000, with tens of thousands of players winning smaller prize. We all love stories of life changing wins and in this post we are going to be having a closer look at some of the biggest lotto wins in South Africa, as well as their amounts and when they were won. 82 percent of South Africans play the lotto each week and the jackpots tend to get very large when there is a roll over, which explains some of the big winning amounts below;

The 10 Biggest Lotto Wins in South Africa

1. R232,131,750.69 won on Powerball Draw 965 in 2019 by a man in his 50s.
2. R145,469,799.30 won on Powerball Draw 908 in 2018 by a lucky 34 year old man.
3. R141,343,180.95 won on Powerball Draw 1018 in 2019 by a 50 year old man.
4. R135,366,753.00 won on Powerball draw 1089 in April 2020 by an anonymous player. It has not been disclosed if the player collected their winnings.
5. R114,580,902.70 won on Powerball draw 1065 in April 2020 by a 35 year old woman, the first woman to win a South African Lotto Jackpot over R100 Million.
6. R114,242,816.50 won on Powerball draw 1045 in November 2019 by a 32 year old man.
7. R110,000,000 won on Lotto draw 1783 in 2018 by 4 different winners, including a 58 year old man, each winner received a cool R27.5 Million.
8. R102,016,595.00 won on Powerball draw 166 in 2011 by a man in his 20s.
9. R91,068,427.00 won on Powerball draw 32 in 2010 by an anonymous player who collected their winnings.
10. R87,624,435.00 won on Powerball draw 696 in 2016 by a man in his 40s.

A worthy mention is the winner of R83,853,069.85 on Powerball in 2019 who just missed out on making our Top 10 Lotto Winners list, the player remains anonymous.

What do the big winners have in common?

One of the things you might have noticed is that most of the big winners in South Africa won playing Powerball on the lotto, not just the traditional lotto. Only 1 of the 10 players on our list won from a straight lotto ticket. If you aren’t sure what the difference the lotto and powerball is then we recommend giving our SA Lotto Betting Guide a read. The main difference is that Lotto is a 5 ball draw while Powerball is a 5 ball +1 bonus ball draw, so there are more numbers to predict for Powerball.  With that in mind we recommend Powerball over Lotto if you are aiming for the jackpot.

The biggest lotto winner in South Africa

As mentioned in our list, the biggest lotto win was R232,131,750.69 won in 2019. Fortunately for us the Ithuba, the National Lottery operator, revealed some key details about the big win;

• The player picked their own numbers (4, 18, 21, 26, 35, and the PowerBall 5).
• They spent a total of R22.50 on the tickets and won a massive R232 131 750.
• The ticket was purchased at an OK Mini Mart in Tygerdal.

The Gamblers Verdict on the Lotto

The Lotto truly is a great way for the average South African to dream big. For the small price of a R5 lotto ticket you can make your dreams a reality, should the balls fall in your favour that is. However winning the lotto is no simple task as your odds of winning  just a small prize are 1 in 18, and the odds of winning a Powerball or Lotto jackpot are 1 in 42,375,200. Those interested in betting on individual numbers or combinations will have more success as the odds are much more in favour of the punter at Lucky Numbers betting sites, where you can bet on a single number, odd / even numbers and more. The Gambler recommends the lotto to those wanting to dream big, but for those wanting to make money we recommend you stick to betting on Lucky Numbers.