Johannesburg – The National Lottery Operator, Ithuba has announced that the record-breaking R158 Million PowerBall Jackpot winner has come forward to claim her winnings, from the draw that took place on Tuesday 27 July 2021.
The winner played using the ABSA Banking APP and spent only R15 on the winning ticket using the manual selection method to select the winning numbers of 05, 12, 15, 28, 29, and PowerBall number 14.
The winner becomes the second-highest PowerBall jackpot winner in the history of the South African National Lottery, the biggest jackpot winner of 2021 thus far and the biggest online jackpot winner since Ithuba took over as the Operator in 2015.
“No, I’m not lucky, I’m blessed”, said the unemployed mother speaking to Ithuba, the National Lottery Operator.
“I’m still in disbelief, overwhelmed yet very excited that I’m the R158 Million PowerBall jackpot winner. The money could not have come at a better time for my family as I lost my job last year due to COVID.”
The winning numbers keep replaying in my mind. I’ve been playing the same numbers across Powerball and LOTTO games for a while now.
On Tuesday, I missed the live draw show for some odd reason, so I decided to check the draw results on my ABSA Banking APP and I had the most unexpected shock of my life.
When I saw the winning PowerBall numbers, I knew that I had won the Powerball jackpot of R158 Million, but I kept on checking the numbers throughout the day to ensure that I was not mistaken or that I would wake up from a dream”, said the winner.
When asked what she plans to do with her newfound fortune, the North West mother said
“I would love to travel to Durban, as I have never been there before and I have always wanted to go there for a family vacation at the sea. A portion of the winnings will go towards building and furnishing our dream home, with the help of an interior designer and the best architect to ensure that everything I have always dreamt of as a little girl, becomes exactly what I envision. We plan to invest a significant amount of our winning, allowing for my family and I to live comfortably. The rest of the winnings will be placed in an education trust, towards our children’s education and a portion will be donated to charity”, she added.
Ithuba Ceo, Charmaine Mabuza, said, “Congratulations to the second-highest Powerball jackpot winner ever, we are happy to announce another banking app jackpot winner, this time with our partner ABSA, this win also happens to be the biggest online jackpot win since Ithuba took over as the Operator in 2015. Our approach has always been one that is innovative and technology-driven. From the on-set, we have moved with the times and utilised technology as one of the best tools to help us fulfil our mandate and elevate the South African National Lottery to world-class standards. One way in which we have used technology is by spoiling our players for choice, by providing them with alternate, credible platforms to play their favourite National Lottery games. We wanted to offer players as much convenience as possible and our partnership with the Banks provides our players with the convenience of playing Lottery games from anywhere, anytime on trusted platforms of their choice. ”, said Mabuza.
“We are delighted that the record-breaking R158 million PowerBall Jackpot winner played using our App. Offering customers the opportunity to play the Lotto from the convenience of the Absa Banking App, Cellphone Banking and Online Banking is proof of our commitment to cater for the everyday banking needs of our customers 24/7,” says Omar Baig, Head of Transactional Banking at Absa Retail and Business Bank.
The winner received financial advice and trauma counselling from Ithuba.
Winners of R50 000 and more receive extensive financial advice as well as trauma counselling from qualified psychologists, to help them deal with their new financial circumstances.
These advisory services come at no cost to the winner.
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