Trying to plot which lottery numbers are the luckiest in South Africa can be a futile exercise. The reality is that, while there are some digits that have been drawn more often than others, nobody can authoritatively say one number is luckier than the other.
Residents in Richmond, stay-at-home dads in Durban, workers in Wellington and other South Africans might hold hope in numbers that are important to them, personally, or have relevance, historically.
At the end of the day, though, quick pick numbers and those that are manually chosen all have the same chance of winning the SA Powerball. There are numbers that are drawn more often than others. There are numbers that hardly feature week in and month out, but there are no guarantees.
If it’s some kind of direction or lead South Africans are looking for when entering the Lotto or SA Powerball, then there is some historic data to help with potential choices. If it’s a so-called overdue number someone wants to select, then 17 could be a good option. This is not to say it will turn up soon, but 17 has gone for 100-plus days without being used in the past. On the other hand, according to data generated as recently as mid-June 2021, digits in the 40s are relatively frequent. For instance, 42, 43 and 48 have each been drawn 20 plus times in the SA Lotto since March 2020. Digits don’t have to be chosen in isolation, either.
Common pairs are popular with people who play the Lotto and SA Powerball in South Africa. Here, 13 has been paired with 25 a dozen times in the Lotto. Particularly interestingly, 1 and 49 have been paired 13 times since March 2020. These numbers and others will grow in time, as the same pair occur in future draws, but for the time being they are a good point of reference for popular pairs. And they can be played over and over again.
Of course, combinations are not confined to what the data shows. In many instances, people appreciate playing with their birthday date. For example, someone born on 4 June in a particular year might want to play with 8 and 12. If they were to include the year of their birth, that string of numbers could read: 4, 6, 19, 48. In that scenario, the person was born on 4th June 1948.
There are also triplets. Here, trios such as 1, 16 and 45; 6, 19 and 28; and 13, 43 and 51 have been combined four times each during the aforementioned period in the Lotto. To take this a step further, there are also the most common consecutive triplets such as 36, 37 and 38; and 50, 51 and 52. These have each come up once in recorded history for South African Lotto draws.
For real-life experiences of number trends, it’s worth noting the remarks of regular lottery players in South Africa of the past. What was said then has merit today. “I play six sets of numbers every week. For three of them I use sentimental numbers and for the other three I use random numbers,” said one Lotto winner. “We choose favourite days, like our children’s birth dates, and lucky dates when good things have happened. We then play those numbers,” said another SA Powerball victor.
