Durban - An East London resident has collected his R81m Lotto winnings. The winner purchased his ticket at Quingney for just R15.
The jackpot was won from a draw on Tuesday, October 27, two weeks before the winner came forward to claim his prize.
The man said the morning after the draw, at about 3am, he could not sleep and decided to check the results online.
“That’s when I found out I had won the jackpot!,” he said.
The winner said it took him two weeks to claim his winnings because he had misplaced his ID and knew he would not be able to collect his winnings without it.
He said the windfall came at the right time.
“I lost my job in 2019 and started doing odd jobs to make ends meet. My biggest concern was taking care of my children. A few weeks ago, the mother of my first child threatened to take me to the maintenance court as she was not happy with the money that I was contributing towards raising our child. This frustrated me as I really was giving all I could,” he said.
The man plans to invest most of his winnings, with his children’s education a top priority.
“I want to buy a house so my children can live comfortably. I also want to spend part of my winnings helping the homeless people in East London. I feel honoured that finally, I will be able to do much more than just give a R5 coin to the homeless,” he said.
The winner received counselling and financial advice which Ithuba offers to all winners of R50 000 and above.
“He spent a lot of time with the financial advisor, more than most of our winners usually do. The feedback we received was that he had many questions and wanted to thoroughly understand the magnitude of his winnings and how he could preserve his new wealth”, said Ithuba spokesperson Busisiwe Msizi.
IOL