South African National Lottery

History

The National lottery was introduced to South Africa on 11 March 2000. At the time it was run by Uthingo.

After a marketing effort that aimed to reach 80 percent of South African homes directly more than 800,000 tickets were sold in the first day of availability Nearly R70 million worth of tickets were sold in the first three weeks of operation.

In October 2002 operator Uthingo suggested a daily lottery to supplement the weekly draw. The concept, called Keno, was rejected by the trade and industry ministry in March 2003. In November 2003 the Lotto Plus game was launched, acting as a supplementary weekly lottery available on the purchase of a primary lottery ticket, with an entry fee of R1.

In July 2006 the Gidani consortium, featuring Greek company Intralot as a technical partner, was judged the preferred bidder to operate the lottery for seven years starting April 2007. The operating licence was awarded in October 2006. In March 2007 the Pretoria High Court set aside that award on application by incumbent Uthingo, finding that the failure to adequately investigate the shareholders in some bidding consortia left room for conflicts of interest.

Following the final draw by incumbent Uthingo, the lottery was indefinitely suspended in April 2007.

In September the operating licence was awarded to Gidani again. When ticket sales re-opened in October more than 200,000 tickets were sold within the first three hours. Gidani introduced scratch cards, but they were discontinued for several months when they lost there licence to Ithuba.

In 2015, Lotto licences were awarded to Ithuba. In 2015, 2 new games were introduced by Ithuba: EAZiWIN, an instant win game consisting of four types of indigenous inspired games; Morabaraba, Fafi Fortune, 4 Siya Wina and Popa Feela and PowerBall Plus.

Eligibility

Games

9 games operate under the South African National Lottery brand:

LOTTO

Players buy tickets with their choice of six different numbers between 1 and 49; there is provision for random numbers to be generated automatically for those who do not wish to choose, known as 'Quick Pick'.

In the draw, six numbered balls are drawn without replacement from a set of 49 balls numbered from 1 to 49. A further Bonus Ball is also drawn, which affects only players who match five numbers.

Prizes are awarded to players who match at least three of the six drawn numbers, with prizes increasing for matching more of the drawn numbers. All players who match all six drawn numbers win equal shares of the jackpot; the chance of doing so is 1 in 13,983,816. If four, five, or six balls are matched, the relevant prize is divided equally between all who match that many balls. If no player matches all six numbers, the jackpot is added to that of the next Lotto draw—a Rollover.

The entry fee to the LOTTO draw is set at R5.00 per board.

The draw is conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays on SABC 2 at 21:00.

LOTTO PLUS

LOTTO PLUS is exactly the same as LOTTO, but gives the player a second chance to win. When buying a LOTTO ticket, the player must pay an extra R2.50 per board to enter the LOTTO PLUS draw. Odds are the same, while prizes are usually slightly lower.

The draw is conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays on SABC 2 at 21:00.

PowerBall

The PowerBall jackpot draw requires players to pick five main numbers from 1 to 45 and one 'PowerBall' number from 1 to 20 for an entry fee of R5 per board. Prizes may be won by matching the main numbers, with matches of the PowerBall number winning higher prizes. The top prize of the game is won by matching all five main numbers as well as the PowerBall. Draws take place on Tuesdays and Fridays on E.tv at 21:00.

After 28 November 2015, odds were as more possibilities to win were introduced. An example of the recent additions were, if the player matched only the Powerball, he or she would win money, while before, that ticket would not win anything.

The record prize for any Lottery game in South Africa was in PowerBall at R102,016,595. This prize was won in the Free State but never collected. The highest claimed prize was also from PowerBall at R91,068,427

PowerBall PLUS

PowerBall PLUS is exactly the same as PowerBall, but gives the player a second chance to win. When buying a PowerBall ticket, the player must pay an extra R2.50 per board to enter the PowerBall PLUS draw. Odds are the same, while prizes are usually slightly lower.

Powerball PLUS was a more recent game added by the National Lottery of South Africa and is currently the newest game. It was introduced on 28 November 2015.

Draws take place on Tuesdays and Fridays on E.tv at 21:00.

SPORTSTAKE 13

A player can play SPORTSTAKE 13 by predicting outcomes of 13 predetermined match fixtures drawn from English and other identified professional soccer fixtures.

For each fixture the player chooses their prediction by marking on the bet slip;

[1] – for a home win

[x] – for a draw

[2] – for a home loss (Away win)

EAZiWIN odds

EAZiWIN

As well as tickets for the Draw Games, the National Lottery also sells instant win digital scratch cards.

They are digital scratch cards, where a card is compared against a slip and not scratched like traditional scratchcards. These are called 'EAZiWIN and are based on traditional African games.

Cards range from R3 to R5.

PICK 3

Lotto's newest game was announced to launch on 3 December 2016. It will be a daily game with a top prize of R10,000.

Wina Manje

Wina Manje was a scratchcard game that consisted of many types of scratch cards. This was replaced by EAZiWIN in 2015.

Raffle

South African National Lottery announced that there would be a once-off raffle for Christmas 2016. The draw took place on 30 December 2016. It was officially named "Raffle". Prizes included R1,000, R10,000, R100,000, with the top prize being a Mercedes Benz C200 Cabriolet

Other ways to play

As well as by purchasing a ticket at a shop, tickets can be purchased many other ways.

Online

All National Lottery games can be played online after registering. There are two ways of playing the lotto online.

FNB & Nedbank: LOTTO, LOTTO PLUS, PowerBall and PowerBall PLUS are available for play through the bank's apps.

National Lottery website: LOTTO, LOTTO PLUS, PowerBall, PowerBall PLUS and SPORTSTAKE 13 are available for play through the South African National lottery website.

Record Jackpots

Below lists the highest 10 jackpots from the National Lottery of South Africa.

Socio-economic impact

In June 2003 it was reported that 27 percent of lottery players were unemployed and that 43 percent of players earned less than R2,000 a month. It was also reported that legalised gambling had created 50 673 jobs in 2000, although it may have redirected spendings from other industries.

2006 research found that 82 percent of South Africans played the lottery once a week and that 53 percent of the population did not engage in any other form of gambling. The average player spent R81 per month on the lottery.

Revenue distribution

Under the current operator, Ithuba, 34 percent of revenue is paid to a central charitable distribution fund, up from an initial 28 percent. Six percent of revenue is paid as retail commission, ten percent is retained as operational costs and 50 percent is paid in prizes.

Previous lotteries in South Africa

The now defunct homeland of Ciskei established a lottery in 1984 and operated by Score-A-Lot. In 1991 Score-A-Lot was the first Lottery in Africa to operate Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) in Africa and the first totally cashless operation using smart card technology. After lengthy negotiations with South Africans "Department of Trade and Industry" (DTI) Score-A-Lot closed in Dec 2001

A lottery was established by decree in the former homeland of Transkei in 1989 and operated by Score-A-Lot. In 1991 Score-A-Lot was the first Lottery in Africa to operate Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) in Africa and the first totally cashless operation using smart card technology. After lengthy negotiations with South Africans "Department of Trade and Industry" (DTI) Score-A-Lot closed in Dec 2001

The Natal Lotto (also referred to as the KZN Lotto) was launched in the KwaZulu-Natal province in 1992. During eight years of operation it raised R869 million and paid R345 million to charities and R448 million in prize money.