Indeed, adding to the mounting number of unclaimed Lotto or Powerball prizes across Mzansi, comes this R53 million lot of loot. The details on hand for the winner are thin, but the triumphant ticket was picked via the FNB app. The manual selection method was used to choose the digits and a mere 40 bucks were placed on the ticket. Now that’s a big return for the price of a cheeseburger at your local takeaway joint. Canvassed for reasons why the winner might not have claimed the prize yet, some South Africans were bemused by the lack of collection. “If it was me, I’d be watching my ticket and those numbers like a hawk,” a Gauteng resident told local free-to-air television. Another suggested “the winner might still be in shock and could be planning how he is going to tell his family about their newfound wealth.” When or if the winner eventually finds out, the SA Lotto results for Saturday 28 Nov 2020 will go down in their personal history as a life-changing occasion. Out of interest, the numbers for the main lotto draw that day were 6, 12, 15, 24, 36, 37 and the bonus ball was 45. To reiterate, the winner chose the numbers manually, so there was nothing random about their selection. Perhaps the digits are important and relevant to them. Stories of lottery winners in the past have revealed instances of people basing their choices on anniversary dates, birthday milestones and other numerical landmarks encountered through their lives. Of course, this is not the first time a hefty lotto prize has gone unclaimed. While some winners have eventually come forward, albeit belatedly and in some cases in the nick of time, there are still cases of unclaimed winnings around the country. Back in mid-July 2019, someone won R23 million. The ticket was reportedly purchased at a petrol station in Centurion. The person who bought it paid R30 and used the quick-pick selection. The man who won took his sweet time about voicing his victory. But in the end he proved himself the winner and walked off with his precious prize. All winnings that go unclaimed are ultimately put back into the national lottery fund – and get redistributed into the community. That’s great for future winners, but you don’t necessarily want to be the person who could’ve got your share of the pot when you picked the right digits but didn’t check if you had. Also in 2019, it took the winner of a whopping R232 million a full seven days to realise he was in the money – the big money. It was a man in his 50s from Goodwood and he was understandably glad when he finally got with the proverbial programme. “The R232 million Powerball jackpot winner has finally come forward. The person only realised that it could be them when they were listening to the news and heard that the ticket came from the outlet they’d bought it from,” tweeted Sibongile Mafu.
