Buy South Africa Lotto Tickets Online

South Africa Lotto is a popular national lotto that has been around for decades.

With cheap ticket prices and guaranteed jackpots, there are many reasons to give this game a closer look.

In this guide, we’ll explore what makes this lottery worth trying and show how you can buy South Africa Lotto Tickets online.

About South Africa Lotto

South Africa Lotto was launched on March 2, 2000. It was created by Thabo Mbeki, the president at the time. Mbeki was also the first person to purchase a ticket for the lottery.

Since its creation, it has been managed by a few different companies. It has been run by Ithuba Holdings Limited since 2015.

The game began as a weekly draw, with a second draw date added in October 2001. Other changes to the game include the addition of two supplementary draws.

The first supplementary draw, Lotto Plus 1, was introduced in November 2003. The second, Lotto Plus 2, was introduced in August 2017.

South Africa Lotto Draws

South Africa Lotto is a bi-weekly draw.

Draws takes place every Wednesday and Saturday at 8:56 pm SAST.

Draws are held in Johannesburg and are broadcast on the TV station SABC 2.

Players have until 8:30 p.m. SAST on draw days to buy tickets from an official retailer.

Players who prefer to buy tickets online from a third-party retailer may need to get theirs a few hours earlier than that.

How to Play South Africa Lotto

South Africa Lotto is an easy game to play. Players must select six numbers from a pool of numbers 1 to 52. A bonus number is also chosen from the same number pool.

Players must match all six of the regular numbers to win. The bonus number only impacts lower-tier prizes.

Players can also add two supplementary draws to their ticket, Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2.

To play Lotto Plus 1, a ticket must be purchased for the main draw. Similarly, a ticket for Lotto Plus 1 must be purchased in order to buy a ticket for Lotto Plus 2.

These games use the same numbers from the main ticket, but have separate draws. Each of the add-on games has separate prizes, with both offering eight prize tiers.

A standard one-line ticket for South Africa Lotto costs 5 ZAR within the country. Additional entries for Lotto Plus 1 and Lotto Plus 2 cost 2.50 ZAR per game.

Players who buy tickets from outside the country may have to pay additional fees.

South Africa Lotto Prizes and Odds

South Africa Lotto offers lots of chances to win, with eight prize tiers. Players must match a minimum of two numbers plus the bonus number in order to win.

The bonus number only impacts the second, fourth, sixth and eighth prize tiers.

Each draw has a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 2 million ZAR.

If there is no jackpot winner, the prize rolls over to the next draw. The prize continues to roll over until there is a winner, with no cap.

There is also no jackpot cap, so prizes can get pretty big.

However, the odds of winning the jackpot are pretty tough, at 1 in 20,358,520.

Even the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 38, much tougher than most lotteries with similar jackpot odds.  

For example, Ukraine Super Loto has jackpot odds of 1 in 20,358,520 and overall odds of 1 in 7.

However, South Africa Lotto offers bigger prizes, more prize tiers and more chances to win with the add-on games.

The breakdown of each prize tier is as follows:

Claiming South Africa Lotto Prizes

All South Africa Lotto prizes are awarded as lump-sum payments.

One of the best features about South Africa Lotto is that all prizes are tax-free.

However, if you are buying tickets from a popular online website, then you may be subject to other tax laws.

Winners have up to one year from the draw date to claim prizes.

Notable South Africa Lotto Winners

South Africa Lotto jackpots don’t typically get as big as its main competitor, South Africa Powerball.

However, they are certainly much larger than South Africa Daily Lotto.

The biggest jackpot in South Africa Lotto history took place on January 27, 2018. Four lucky winners split a 110 million ZAR jackpot. Each winner took home 27.5 million ZAR.

This jackpot is the ninth largest prize ever awarded in South African lotto history.

South Africa Lotto-Should You Play?

Though South Africa Lotto may not have the best odds of winning, it does have a lot going for it.

Cheap ticket prices, supplementary games that offer more chances to win and eight prize tiers certainly hold appeal.

Additionally, the lack of tax on prizes and no jackpot cap make South Africa Lotto an attractive game to try.