Check those old Lotto tickets! Millions in unclaimed prizes are waiting to line your wallet

A PowerBall Plus jackpot of more than R7m and more than R1.7m in a Lotto jackpot are among the unclaimed winnings across the National Lottery games due to expire in six months if not claimed.

Ithuba said on April 30 there was R279,451,903 in unclaimed jackpots across all its games, including smaller winnings.

The national lottery operator has called on players to check their tickets and come forward to claim as soon as possible.

“Winnings due to expire within the next six months amount to R109,760,846.40. All National Lottery tickets remain valid for a period of up to 365 days from the date of the draw. All winning tickets that are not validated within that period will expire.

“Any unclaimed winnings from expired tickets are transferred to the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund for reallocation to good causes.

“From time to time a small portion of unclaimed and expired funds are used to support the popular Guaranteed Jackpot Programme.”

As part of the winnings due to expire within the next six months, Ithuba said it has noted the following big prize unclaimed winnings:

• PowerBall draw on July 9 2021 — A Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, player’s ticket is due to expire on July 9 if they don’t come forward to claim more than R7m in the PowerBall jackpot. The ticket was purchased at a Spar.
• LOTTO PLUS 2 — More than R1.7m was won by a Polokwane punter on December 29 2021 who played with a wager of R10 via manual selection. The ticket was purchased at Hollywood Polokwane. On the same draw is also a Western Cape winner who won more than R1.7m with a ticket bought at Game, Mitchells Plain. This was played with a wager of R80 via manual selection.
• SPORTSTAKE 13 list number 1482 — A Johannesburg SPORTSTAKE 13 player is due R720,870.20. The winner played with a wager of R512 and the ticket is due to expire on June 28. This leaves just less than six weeks for the winner to come forward. The ticket was purchased at Pick n Pay, Oakdene.
• PowerBall PLUS draw on December 3 2021 — A Powerball Plus jackpot ticket also expiring in six months was played by a Cape Town punter who bought the ticket with a wager of R45 and won a PowerBall Plus jackpot of more than R7m. The ticket expires on December 3 and was purchased at Ravensmead Supermarket.

Ithuba has encouraged players to keep their tickets safe and claim their winnings before tickets expire.

“We also highly recommend that players write their name and ID number on the back of tickets at the time of purchase for ease of identification and ownership for bigger claims.”

The winner of a R20.5m Lotto jackpot on May 29 2021 has just a few days left to come forward and claim the money or lose it all. 

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