Why there are still millions in unclaimed Lottery winnings

Many South Africans dream of the day their numbers will win them millions and change their lives. Surprisingly, it is somewhat common for people not to claim their Lottery winnings.

The process of playing the Lottery and claiming your winnings in South Africa is not complicated. You buy a ticket at a lotto retailer and can go back there to claim a prize of up to R2 000 in case you have the right numbers.

Claiming a prize of between R2 000 and R50 000 will require you to go to the post office. Winnings of over R50 000 can be paid out only through a specific process that requires you to bring your ID card, bank statement, and proof of residence.

Since all you have to do is compare your numbers after the draw, it’s surprising that it often takes people up to 12 months to figure out whether they won anything. People have exactly one year from the date of the draw to claim their lottery winnings. In case they miss this deadline, it will not be possible for them to receive anything.

The generous deadline is still not enough for some, as there are quite a few stories about people not claiming their Lottery winnings.

For instance, a winning ticket was bought at a petrol station in Rooihuiskraal, Centurion on September 19, 2018. The lucky person won R23.7 million but never claimed the prize. In July 2019, the gas station even published posts on their social media accounts informing people that someone won a fortune on an unclaimed Lotto jackpot and noted it was due to expire soon, but no one came to pick it up.

Similarly, a Powerball Plus ticket bought in Gauteng on June 30, 2017 worth R21.7 million was never claimed. Another huge ticket bought at the very same store as this one also expired in 2018 despite the fact that it was worth R3.4 million. Both of these tickets were purchased at the Ifalethu Trading Store on Moshoeshoe Road in Sebokeng, Gauteng.

South Africa is not the only country where huge lottery winnings go unclaimed. In the United States, there were 167 unclaimed PowerBall prizes upwards of a million dollars (R15 million) each in 2017 alone. There was also an instance in which a $68 million (R1 billion) prize went unclaimed in New York in 2002.

Meanwhile, the biggest unclaimed lottery prize of all time was £63.8 million (R1.3 billion). This was the main prize of EuroMillions, Europe’s biggest lottery, in 2012. Additionally, someone won the main prize of 500 million colón (R13.1 million) in Costa Rica as part of a Christmas Lottery. However, no one ever claimed the prize.

In research conducted in 2019, it was found that 35% of South Africans played the lottery, nearly half of which play it on a weekly basis. Since such a high number of residents is playing this game of chance, it is normal to assume everyone who wins something will claim their prize.

However, this often does not happen. So, why aren’t people claiming their Lottery winnings?

Some believe they don’t have a winning lottery ticket simply because they are not aware of the other prizes. They know only about the jackpot and don’t even bother checking whether they won a smaller sum. There are millions of rands unclaimed in smaller winnings every year.

On the other hand, there are those who don’t claim their prizes even though they won millions. This likely happens because the winners lose their Lottery tickets or forget to check their numbers. Then there are those who don’t want to get caught up in the moment and be too vocal about hitting the jackpot.

Following the biggest Powerball jackpot in South Africa, it took the winner a full seven days to come forward. The man, whose identity is still unknown to the masses, was described as a man in his fifties who works a blue-collar job. He managed to win R232 million and decided to stay out of the public eye.

This is a smart move, as it was not in his best interest for the whole country to know who the man who won R232 million is. Players are encouraged to put all of the tickets they buy somewhere safe and check whether they have winning numbers after each draw.

If a ticket goes unclaimed for more than a year, the money gets withheld. However, they don’t keep it for themselves but rather distribute the winnings between different charities. Even if the jackpot doesn’t change a player’s life, it will help someone less fortunate.

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