Recent unclaimed lotto winnings in South Africa

On 1 June, some of the lockdown restrictions were eased. These slackened restrictions included that most people could return to work and the retail sector fully reopened again. The offices for the National Lottery also reopened after being closed from the 27^th of March 2020 and lotto winners who won during the lockdown period, could visit the regional offices to claim their winning amounts.

The National Lottery’s Head of Corporate Relations, Busisiwe Msizi, stated that should a player be in the possession of a lotto ticket that expired during time the offices were closed, 27 March to 1 June, they will be allowed to claim their winnings until the 30^th of October 2020.

One of the first lockdown winners that stepped forward, was the winner of R16,826,525.20 who won on the 16^th of May matching the numbers, 8,10,15,27,30,49 and 6.

However, the biggest winner during lockdown has still not claimed his/her winning amount. This is the 4^th biggest winning amount in SA history and the biggest unclaimed lotto prize amount in SA thus far. This person who played on the FNB banking app, won R135,366,753.00 on the 28^th of April matching the winning numbers of 6,12,32,36,45 and PowerBall number 4. According to the Daily Sun this participant was the biggest winner so far in 2020, as well as the biggest online winner in South Africa.

Another lucky player who has not claimed his/her winnings to date, is the most recent winner from Carletonville, Gauteng, who only spent R10 on the ticket. The amount of R8,129,457.60 was won on the 6^th of June and the winning numbers were 15,16,23,36,37,38 and 18.

Why would someone not claim lotto winnings?

Many South Africans will ask this question and wonder why someone won’t step forward to claim the prize money. In the current economic situation people will be glad for some kind of economic relief and will be first in line to claim anything that can come their way.

But, losing or misplacing a lotto ticket might happen more often than one could imagine. Also, some players are only interested in the first prize and if they realise that they haven’t won they don’t bother to check if they have won anything else for the day’s draw.

South Africans have 365 days to claim their winnings. Some will take months to claim their winnings and even miss the deadline, while others will claim their winnings within the first week. In 2019, a winner stepped forward to claim his R23,744,139 just a few days before the deadline. He said that he forgot to check his ticket, he often plays the lotto and the ticket was piled up with his other lotto tickets. The biggest winner in SA history only took 7 days before he stepped forward to claim his prize money of R232 million.

Instead of adding unclaimed winnings to the next draw’s prize money, the National Lottery distributes it to various worthy charities in South Africa. So, instead of wondering why anybody could be so ignorant as to not claim his/her prize money, think about the charities who benefit from this unexpected huge donation and rather thank the poor soul or souls for donating all of their winnings.