The R58 million LOTTO jackpot that was won on Saturday 12 May went to a Cape Town woman who is in her mid-50s.
The winner said that she is a regular PowerBall player but seldom plays the LOTTO. She decided to play when she saw the high amount of the estimated jackpot prize. Discovering that she was in fact the jackpot winner however, happened quite gradually. She tells her story:
“After seeing the estimated jackpot prize, I started daydreaming about how this could change my life and make it even better. On Saturday, my husband and I decided to go out for dinner. On our way to the restaurant, I insisted to my husband that we stop at a retail store where I could play the LOTTO, which I did. I put my ticket away quickly after playing and forgot about it for the evening” said the Winner.
“The next day, my children had arranged a special mother’s day celebration and we were all going to meet at my daughter’s house. On my way to my daughter’s house, I decided to check the ticket at a retail store because I had seen on the National Lottery website that one person had won the lottery jackpot. When I inserted my ticket in the machine to check if I had won anything, the machine issued a little slip with a note that read: ‘Please contact the National Lottery head office.’ I went to the cashiers to ask them if they could give me more details, and they suggested that I go to the Post Office.
When I arrived at my daughter’s house where all my children and husband were gathered, I asked my son to check my ticket. After checking this, my son immediately told me to write my name and ID number at the back of the ticket because I had matched all 6 numbers. My body just went numb, I was in total disbelief. All I could do was drink my gin!
I am fortunate that I already have a comfortable life. I will continue working for the next 6 months or so just so the hand over process at work is smooth. This will also give me enough time to carefully think about how I will spend my money. Ideally, I would like to invest 90% of my winnings and live off of my investments for the rest of my life. I’m grateful that I got my early retirement.”
