Winner of R153m PowerBall jackpot comes forward to claim his catch

The winner of last week’s PowerBall Plus jackpot of R153m has come forward, Ithuba announced on Tuesday.

The player, who put his bet via his Standard Bank app, is from KwaZulu-Natal.

Ithuba said the man, whose name is not being revealed, had spent R300 playing the same numbers for 10 draws. For the past three weeks the man’s numbers, which have been played on repetition, had won him no more than R28 — until his luck changed last week.

“My partner and I are not regular lottery players, but my in-laws keep track of all lottery jackpots and always encourage us to play”, the winner told Ithuba officials as he reported to collect his winnings.

“My in-laws basically sold us the idea of being millionaires, telling us about the attractive jackpot. We decided to play on my Standard Bank banking app, using a quick pick selection method and playing for 10 draws with R300. In the first draw, I won less than R10, and R28 on the second draw, which the Standard Bank app notifies me of each time I win something.

“On the third draw I did not receive a notification, so I concluded I had not won anything. Little did I know that third time was a charm for us. I then received a call from Standard Bank notifying me that I was the winner of the PowerBall Plus jackpot — I could not believe it!” he said.

The winner said he took his time in digesting the news before coming forward to claim his winnings, adding that he was quite nervous. He has taken up Ithuba’s offer of trauma counselling and financial advice.

He described the awe his in-laws had when he and his wife broke the news that they had won the jackpot.

“My partner and I called them and asked them if they had the winning numbers from the Friday July 10 PowerBall draw. We were not surprised that they did. Before they could call out the numbers for us, I offered to call out the numbers that we played and asked them to tell us if we had the winning ticket or not,” he said.

“As I was calling out the numbers, which I knew were winning numbers, I could hear the nervousness in my father-in-law’s voice, with each number he confirms. After calling out the PowerBall, he became silent.

“I had to take him out of his misery and confirm to him that his daughter and I are now multimillionaires!”

The man told Ithuba officials that the millions they had won would certainly change their lives, adding that they had been a financially cautious couple.

“We have calculated how long this money will last us, taking into consideration inflation rates at worst-case scenarios. We realise that we really are set for life. This windfall is a massive gift to us. It has fast-forwarded our investment plans, to a point that was beyond our imagination,” he said.

Keeping in the spirit of being financially cautious, the new multimillionaire said he and his wife would not be quitting their jobs any time soon.

“We are now under no pressure and do not have to worry about our financial future, even when we decide to retire,” he said.

This winner is the biggest PowerBall Plus winner in the history of the game. He is also the biggest winner to have played his ticket online.

“We are so ecstatic that we have yet another major jackpot winner in a space of five weeks,” said Busisiwe Msizi, corporate relations head at Ithuba.

“In the past four months, our biggest winners have been using their banking Apps to play their favourite games. This indicates that our strategy of driving our players to play their favourite games using digital platforms is working, which is crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic.” 

Standard Bank also congratulated the winner.

“We are delighted that the winner of the Lotto Plus Jackpot on Friday night is a Standard Bank customer. We celebrate this momentous occasion with our customer and we will continue to walk the journey with them.

"After purchasing a Lotto ticket off the banking app for R300, and winning over R153 million in return, this is a life-changing experience that we are proud to have been a part of,” said Tshiamo Molanda the bank's head of Everyday Banking for Individuals.

The winning numbers for that R153m jackpot were 07, 13, 23, 37, 39 and the PowerBall was 07.