No such luck: Pretoria man’s R42m Lotto win claim dismissed

Investigations have shown that a Pretoria man did not win an R42-million Lotto jackpot in 2016, according to Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka.

Alex Magagula said he bought a Lotto ticket and, in turn, won the R42 million jackpot on 9 September 2016.

The Public Protector said he went to redeem the ticket at a retailer in Gezina, Pretoria.

Lotto machine ‘jammed’

However, the Lotto machine jammed while reading the ticket.

He then went to another terminal at the Sinoville Post Office the following day, where he was paid R37, whereas the winning ticket was worth R42 million.

The Public Protector was approached to step in on October 2018 after allegations that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) failed to address Magagula’s complaint against the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).

The Public Protector released the outcome of her investigation in the case during a media briefing on 30 June.

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Public Protector: ‘Correct amount of R37.50 paid’

Gcaleka said her investigation revealed that the initial terminal in Gezina did not validate Magagula’s ticket and that his ticket was only validated at the Sinoville Post Office.

She said that “the correct amount of R37.50 was paid to him”.

Gcaleka said that Ithuba Holdings, the National Lottery operator, had also confirmed that his coupon was paid correctly and that his ticket was not a jackpot winner ticket as he had claimed.

“The jackpot wasn’t won at the time he bought his ticket as it was rolled over and won much later. The full details were explained to him and relayed to his attorney.”

Lotto machines: Security mechanisms in place

The NLC emphasised that there were various security mechanisms, one of which was that all Lotto machines had been programmed not to pay out huge sums of money.

Should anyone win a large sum of money, the machine would simply print out a coupon instructing the player to go to Ithuba’s offices.

This security mechanism ensured that the Lotto machine operator did not secretively switch the winning ticket with another one.

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Claim of ‘Jackpot’ display

“The complainant’s view that the machine displayed the word ‘Jackpot’ is incorrect, since the Lotto machines are not programmed to display such words, even if a player wins the jackpot.”

Gcaleka said the investigation was now concluded because “allegations that the DTIC failed to attend to the complainant’s complaint against the NLC was not supported by the evidence provided to the Public Protector”.

Gcaleka said the matter was considered finalised by her office.

“Should any party be dissatisfied with this decision, they are at liberty to explore legal remedies at their disposal.”

Edited by Cornelia le Roux.
This article originally appeared in Pretoria Rekord and was republished with permission. Read the original article  here.