One lucky KZN-based man, who played via the Standard Bank App, has won the R153 million PowerBall Plus jackpot from the July 10 draw, National Lottery Operator Ithuba has announced.
“My partner and I are not regular Lottery players, but my in-laws keep track of all Lottery jackpots and always encourage us to play”, said the cheerful winner.
“My in-laws basically sold us the idea of being millionaires, telling us about the attractive jackpot. We decided to play on my Standard Bank banking App, using a Quick Pick selection method and playing for 10 draws with R300. In the first draw, I won less than R10, and R28 on the second draw which the standard Bank App notifies me of each time I win something.”
The man added that he did not receive a notification and thus concluded he had not won anything. Little did he know that third-time was a charm. He received a call from Standard Bank to inform him of his win. He said that he needed time to take in this life-changing news before speaking to Ithuba who offered trauma counselling and financial advice to the winner, as part of their Winner Services package, that comes at no cost to winners of R50 000 and above.
“I had mixed emotions. At some point I was calm, the next I was nervous, it was really a lot of mixed emotions.”
Asked how he broke the news to his zealous in-laws, the winner had a good chuckle and replied: “My partner and I called them and asked them if they had the winning numbers from the Friday 10 July PowerBall draw, we were not surprised that they did. Before they could call out the numbers for us, I offered to call out the numbers that we played and asked them to tell us if we had the winning ticket or not.
Busisiwe Msizi, Head of Corporate Relations at Ithuba: Supplied: Ithuba
"As I was calling out the numbers, which I knew were winning numbers, I could hear the nervousness in my father in-law’s voice, with each number he confirms. After calling out the PowerBall, he became silent. I had to take him out of his misery and confirm to him that his daughter and I are now multi- millionaires.”
He said that both he and his wife are financially cautious people and will not quit their jobs.
"We have calculated how long this money will last us, taking into consideration inflation rates at worst case scenarios, we realise that we really are set for life. This windfall is a massive gift to us. It has fast forwarded our investment plans, to a point that was beyond our imagination.”
“We are now under no pressure and do not have to worry about our financial future even when we decide to retire.”
Ithuba said that the man has become the biggest PowerBall PLUS and on-line winner.
"We are so ecstatic that we have yet another major jackpot winner in a space of five weeks. In the past four months, our biggest winners have been using their banking APPs to play their favourite games. This indicates that our strategy of driving our players to play their favourite games using digital platforms is working, which is crucial during the Covid-19 pandemic”, said Busisiwe Msizi, Head of Corporate Relations at Ithuba.
Standard Bank congratulated its newest millionaire client. “We are delighted that the winner of the PowerBall Plus jackpot is a Standard Bank customer. We celebrate this momentous occasion with our customer ..."
The customer will have access to the best possible financial guidance on how to manage his windfall and to avoid the pitfalls that often come with such an immense change in your financial circumstances, said Tshiamo Molanda Head, Everyday Banking for Individuals at Standard Bank South Africa.
The winning numbers for Friday 10 July were: 07, 13, 23, 37, 39 and the Power Ball, 07.