The Corona Virus COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly shook global village. World leaders are making efforts to navigate and mitigate as much as possible, the effects of the virus outbreak. While that work is underway, as business and certainly as ITHUBA, the National Lottery Operator; we are very much aware that COVID-19 virus is a fast-moving concern with global economic and socio-political ramifications. The impact of the outbreak has had devastating effects on the global economy, communities and the most vulnerable in society.

We are very concerned about these sectors of the economy and their exposure to COVID-19, especially now as situation seems to worsen in South Africa and globally.

PROTECTING OUR EMPLOYEES

With regards to our employees and in the interest of their safety and well-being, ITHUBA has followed the precautionary hygiene guidelines as determined by the World Health Organisation, National Government including the Department of Health as well as other globally recognized health fraternities.

Pursuant to the calls for social distancing by President Cyril Ramaphosa, we have:

• Placed a travel ban on all international and domestic travel for our employees;
• Implemented a remote work-from-home policy for all employees where possible; and
• Equipped all ITHUBA offices with hand sanitizers

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

While we are mindful of the potential impact of COVID-19 on our business, particularly the supply chain, we continue to monitor developments and are creating contingency plans to mitigate the impact. Having assessed the impact on our supply chain, and assuming current conditions do not worsen, we do not currently anticipate a material impact on our operations. We are continually monitoring the situation and managing the impact on key critical projects. Our risk management team which consider employees, financial stress testing, supply chain, sales and regulatory compliance meets regularly to decisively and timeously make decisions in the context of COVID-19 to ensure business continuity and to manage the short, medium and long-term commercial impact on the business.

Keeping with the theme of social distancing, we have limited interactions as much as possible with the our suppliers to virtual meetings and continue to observe precautionary measures such as sanitizing for face-to-face interactions.

PRIORITISING OUR PLAYERS

It is important for our players to note that we remain committed to continue providing them with the lottery products that they have become accustomed to, with no disruptions to the schedule. The aforementioned precautionary measures, especially as it pertains to social distancing will be implemented to safeguard the wellbeing of staff, players and partners. For now, the National Lottery will continue to meet the needs of our players and retailers; ensuring that business operations remain stable.

We are fortunate that our products are available on online and digital platforms, such as on the SA National Lottery mobile APP and on the National Lottery website. Our channel partners namely Absa, FNB, Standard Bank and Nedbank also offer players the convenience of playing anywhere, anytime – 24/7.  While the platforms offer convenience, now more than ever we urge players to use these digital and online platforms and play their part to stop the spread of the virus.

We are however mindful that we still serve lottery playing communities who are still not included in the digital economy. Their safety from transmission is also a priority, which is the reason we have installed fixed and mobile hand sanitizers for their safety and well-being when visiting our offices.

Winners and players alike are encouraged to contact our call centre for any enquiries on 0800 484 822, Monday – Saturday from 06:00 – 23:00 and Sunday 06:00 – 21:00

RETAILERS

Some retailer operational hours may have changed. As retailers are paramount to the operations of the National Lottery, our Sales and Field staff have been deployed and will ensure that all retailers are well equipped to assist players. Our Retailer Helpline remains operational and retailers can direct queries to our Call Centre on 0860 456 886, Monday – Saturday from 06:00 – 23:00 and Sunday 6:00 – 21:00

UBUNTU

This is not the time to panic. We are a nation that has shown tremendous courage and resilience. Together we can overcome this pandemic, only if we stand together, get informed and do the right thing.  Let us live out Ubuntu. Let’s protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.

The winner of the R114 Million PowerBall jackpot is a 35-year-old woman from Soweto.

The occasional Lottery player said she decided to try her luck when she saw other people queuing to buy their tickets. “On my way from work, I saw a long que of people with betslips and I knew they must be pursuing something big, even though I had no idea of what the jackpot prize was. I became curious and searched for some coins in my bag to see if I could also play” said the winner.

The young winner, who manually selected her numbers, spent only R5 on her winning ticket that she bought at Victor and Son’s café in Roodepoort.

Speaking to ITHUBA, the winner said that she was renting a back room in Soweto. “Sometimes, I could not always afford rent so my brother would always assist me”.

The winner, who is a blue-collar worker, says she has been yearning to be fully involved in her children’s everyday life for years now. “My 4 children have been staying with my mother back at home, and I have never been able to spend as much time with them as I wish since I had to work in Johannesburg. I am mostly grateful that this money will give me an opportunity to raise my children, to be able to take them to school and have the pleasure of preparing a scrumptious meal that they can enjoy when they get back from school, something that I’ve been wishing for, for a long time.” she said.

The winner received trauma counselling and financial advice which ITHUBA offers to winners of R50 000 and above for free. “Judging by the amount of time the winner spent with both the psychologist and the financial advisor, we are confident that she will make sound financial decisions that will secure her family’s future for generations to come” said Busisiwe Msizi, head of corporate relations at ITHUBA.

ITHUBA treated the winner to a five-star hotel stay in Gauteng. “The winner was in complete disbelief when she saw her room. She said in Isizulu: ‘umbhede wami ngempela lona, omkhulu kangaka!’(which means, ‘is this big bed really mine’)” said Msizi.

The winner said in addition to buying her own house, she wants to build her mother a big house that she will comfortably live in. She would also like to buy herself a stylish car but first needs to learn how to drive and obtain her driver’s license as soon as possible.

“I can’t wait to drive past my ex-boyfriend in my new car. He will probably faint when he sees me waving at him. He broke up with me because I was broke and didn’t have a fancy job” she said jokingly.

The winner, who will not be returning to her job, says her new life has begun.

This PowerBall jackpot has rolled 19 times before it got hit. It is the 6^th highest jackpot to ever be won in the history of the South African National Lottery, the highest one being R232 Million that was won in February 2019.

A part time builder from Tembisa, Johannesburg has become the latest millionaire, winning the R8 217 004.70 Million PowerBall PLUS jackpot from the 29 November 2019 draw. He becomes one of 8 jackpot winners in the past two months, that saw ITHUBA pay over R285 Million in jackpot prizes across the various National Lottery games.

The father of three, says that he stopped playing the lottery a few years back after he thought that the lottery numbers were rigged and only certain people won. He only started playing again early this year, after seeing the record breaking jackpots ITHUBA was delivering and the number of players winning daily. He tried his luck once more and won R200 giving him faith that the lotto is in fact not rigged. Asked how he found out about his winnings, he said he watched the draw live on TV that night and recognised some of his numbers but was not sure if he had indeed won the jackpot. It was only three days later that he checked his ticket, which he had kept in his lucky jacket, that he realised he had indeed won the jackpot.

Thus far, the only person he has told about his winning is his wife, and he only told her after he came to the ITHUBA head office to verify his ticket. He is not planning on telling his children about his winning because he fears they might tell the rest of the community and expose him to unnecessary attention, but this coming Christmas, he says he will be able to afford to buy them presents they wish for.

He does not plan to make any drastic changes to his lifestyle and will continue working and living in Tembisa. He plans to invest a significant amount of his winnings and the rest he will use to renovate his house and take his family on holiday.

Busisiwe Msizi, Head of Corporate Relations at ITHUBA, says “We are extremely happy that we have managed to make another player a millionaire this festive season. What is more exciting is that, in the last two months, six players have become instant millionaires through our various games. This year alone, we have paid over R2.8 Billion in lottery winnings and this is a number that keeps growing daily. When we took over as the National Lottery operator, one of the promises we made was to make the lottery more exciting and create more jackpot winners. We are glad that we continue to make this possible for our players.”  

As per all winners of R50 000 and above, the jackpot winner received free financial advice and trauma counseling courtesy of ITHUBA.

The South African National Lottery Operator, ITHUBA, is excited to announce that over R2.5 Billion has been won across all the games, this year alone - another record breaking achievement by the third National Lottery Operator who took over lottery operations in 2015.

“We congratulate all the winners who have come forward to claim their winnings. As ITHUBA, we set out to change the lives of ordinary South Africans since taking over National Lottery operations and this momentous pay out is testament that we are positively contributing to the betterment of South Africans” says Khensani Mabuza, Corporate Relations Executive at ITHUBA.

The biggest jackpot ever to be paid in the history of the lottery in South Africa, and Africa at large, was the R232 Million PowerBall Jackpot that was won by a blue collar worker from Cape Town after 24 rollovers.

Other notable big jackpots came from PowerBall and PowerBall PLUS games, with a R141 Million win on 23^rd August 2019 and R70 Million on 3^rd September 2019, respectively, both these players have come forward to claim their winnings.

ITHUBA’s DAILY LOTTO game, is making significant contributions towards sales and produces winners daily. Since its launch in March 2019, DAILY LOTTO has paid out R 224,665,218.51 and that number continues to grow. Staying true to our promise of innovation and introducing unique Lottery games, ITHUBA has launched its second and newest game under their sports gaming portfolio, SPORTSTAKE 8 which has already paid out R1, 744,210.20. SPORTSTAKE 13 has paid over R89, 103,342.20 in winnings.

“When we were awarded the National Lottery license we promised to reinvigorate the National Lottery by optimising the player and winner experience. We have done this by offering life changing jackpots, introduced an exciting game portfolio and increased lottery access channels making it more convenient to play lottery games than ever before. Players can now use our National Lottery website, our mobile app and any of the four major banks to play the Lottery, this is over and above the Retail network” says Mabuza.