The Ultimate Guide to South African Lotteries!

At theLotter, we now offer 3 of South Africa’s most popular and rewarding lotteries! This essential guide will give you all the information you’ll ever need to play a South African lottery, from tax information, draw times, winning odds and more!

What Make South African Lotteries Special?

The South Africa National Lottery was founded in 2002 with R70 million (approx.€4,376,645) worth of lottery tickets sold within the first few weeks. Since then, the country’s lottery scene has flourished and produced 8 exciting and extremely rewarding lotteries. Studies have even shown that 7 out of 10 people play the lottery on a daily basis. The popularity of lotteries in South Africa probably comes from the fact that they frequently offer impressive jackpots, lottery tickets are extremely affordable and most have numerous prize divisions for players to win from!

Which South African Lottery is the Easiest to Win?

Looking at the odds, we’d say that South Africa Daily Lotto is the easiest lottery to win by far, with prize-winning odds at 1:376,992 for the jackpot prize! On the other hand, if we’re talking about which lottery has the best overall jackpot-to-odds ratio, we’d have to go with South Africa Lotto. While it does have lower odds at 1:20,385,520, this lottery puts out some of the highest jackpot prizes in the country, and if you compare it to South Africa PowerBall’s odds of 1:42,375,200 whose prizes are only slightly higher, you’re getting a pretty good deal from this longtime favourite!

5 Biggest South African Lottery Jackpots

The South Africa National Lottery has handed out some amazing jackpots over the last decade! Here is a list of the top 5 biggest jackpots:

Are Lottery Winnings Taxed in South Africa?

Lucky for you, the answer is no. Unless you are a professional gambler, 100% of your prize winnings will be paid out to you in full. This, however, may change in the coming years as there have been proposals in South Africa to levy a 6% tax on online gambling; 1% tax on casino revenue and a 15% withholding tax on gambling winnings over R25,000. For now, National Lottery winnings are regarded as capital and are not included in the taxable income of an individual. If you win any lottery prizes, be sure to check the tax laws in your country of residence for any further local taxation you may be subject to.

Which South African are Offered on theLotter?

At theLotter, you can find the country’s biggest lotteries including South Africa Lotto (the public’s preferred lottery to play), PowerBall and the newest addition, South Africa Daily Lotto.

South Africa Lotto

South Africa Lotto is the country’s first lottery, and to this day remains the public’s favourite by far! Roughly 82% of the country participates in the lottery’s bi-weekly draws. The lottery recently awarded the country’s third biggest jackpot which was worth R110,000,000 (approx. €7 million)!

Can Foreigners Play Lotto in South Africa?

Foreigners can legally play Lotto in South Africa. They just need to meet certain criteria before officially claiming their prize. First of all, you would need to be in possession of a signed original South Africa Lotto ticket. To have the winnings paid out, the winner needs to have a passport and valid permit for entering the country and since the money is only paid into South African bank accounts, the winner would also need to have a local bank account and submit proof as part of their claim as well as a few other steps one would need to take the money out of the country. Your other option is playing online at sites like theLotter. When you purchase your ticket from a messenger service, a representative from a local office buy’s an official lottery ticket from you from a local retailer. If you win any lottery prize, our agent will claim it on your behalf before transferring it to your personal account for withdrawal.

How Does South Africa Lotto Work?

Players need to select 6 numbers from a guess range of 1 to 52. In addition, when you enter a draw, you are automatically assigned a Bonus Ball which is chosen at the draw. South Africa Lotto has 8 prize divisions, 4 of which are eligible for boosted prize winnings when matching the Bonus Ball! You can easily see if you’ve won any prizes by visiting our Lotto results page!

When a jackpot is won, the lottery advertises an estimated jackpot based on the expected ticket sales for the upcoming draw. In the case where the jackpot was not won, the prize rolls over, and the amount is added to the upcoming draw’s jackpot.

South Africa Lotto holds draws every Wednesday and Saturday at 20:56 SAST.

South Africa PowerBall

The popular American lottery, US Powerball, was recreated with a South African twist and unveiled to the public in 2009. Now South Africa's PowerBall game is fast becoming a favourite for its enormous jackpots and has consistently broken jackpot records with its most recent record reaching R232,131,750 (approx. €14.5 million) in February 2019. This is currently the official highest jackpot record in South Africa to date!

How to Play South Africa PowerBall

Like US Powerball, you choose 5 numbers and can win from 9 prize divisions. Unlike it though, South Africa PowerBall has a guess range of 1-50 instead of the American 1-69. This means far better prize winning odds than the original! To win the jackpot, simply compare your 5 main numbers and the Powerball number to the winning numbers drawn. But even if you didn’t match the jackpot winning numbers, make sure to check if you’ve won any of PowerBall’s amazing secondary prizes through our South Africa PowerBall results page!

In November of 2015, the odds of winning went up as more possibilities to win were added into the game. One example of this the 0+PB prize division which allows players who haven’t matched any winning numbers but matched the Power Ball number, to win a lottery prize.

South Africa PowerBall draws take place on Tuesday’s and Friday's at 21:00 SAST.

South Africa Daily Lotto

Daily Lotto has been taking South Africa by storm! Even though the Lotto spin-off was only recently launched in March of 2019, there’s already a lot to love about the up-and-coming daily lottery. Besides from being able to play for great lottery prizes every day of the week, the lottery features unbelievable winning odds of just 1:376,992 and the chance to get boosted secondary prizes!

How to Play South Africa Daily Lotto?

Daily Lotto features 4 prize divisions for players to win from with a starting jackpot of approximately R100,000 (approx. €6,340). To participate, players are required to select 5 numbers from a guess range of 1 to 36. 

This South African daily lottery guarantees that it will pay out every penny of the winnings to the winners! How? Whenever a jackpot or secondary division isn’t won, the prize automatically rolls down to the next prize division. This means players have the chance to win boosted lottery prizes every day of the week! Want to see if you’ve won? Check out the Daily Lotto results page!

South Africa Daily Lotto stages draws every day, Sunday through Saturday, at 21:00 SAST.

The Unique History of South African Lotteries

Since 2,000, the South Africa National lottery has had turbulent history, to say the least! Until 1996 when the democratic government came into power and legalized all forms of gambling with “The National Gambling Act”, gambling in was strictly prohibited. This act was made in order to regulate and set a standard for responsible gambling throughout South Africa. Along with establishing legal casinos, the country’s first National Lottery was established in the year of 2000. When South Africa’s premier lottery “Lotto” was debuted, more than 800,000 were sold on the first day and almost R70 million worth of Lotto lottery tickets were sold within the first 3 weeks. Since then, 3 lottery operators have taken over the National Lottery, and 7 more lotteries and digital scratch cards have been added to the roster. According to a 2006 study, the most popular forms of gambling in South Africa is lottery play with an astronomical participation rate of 96.9%! This is a great thing for the country, seeing as the current operator, Ithuba Holding Proprietary Limited, pays out 34% of the ticket sale revenue to a central charitable distribution fund which contributes to socio-economic charities and programs throughout South Africa.

Play South African Lotteries today!

South African lotteries are really starting to up their game, with new lotteries and constantly bigger jackpots, so it’s no wonder they’re gaining worldwide popularity and recognition! At theLotter, we have three of the biggest South African lotteries just waiting for you to play. With their fantastic tax-free jackpots, numerous prize divisions, you’ll be winning in no time!