A combined Lotto
amount of over R60 million awaits four lucky Gauteng residents who have yet to claim their cash after winning jackpots this month and last month.
This was confirmed by Busisiwe Koloi, the head of department for customer relations at Ithuba, official operator of the South African National Lottery.
Koloi said the tickets would expire at the end of July next year, as a winning ticket is valid for 365 days after a draw.
“The expiry date is regardless of whether you win R20 or R20million,” she told
The Star. “Expired funds remain in the National Lottery Distribution Trust fund and can be used for guaranteed jackpots with the approval from the National Lotteries Commission.”
The breakdown of the four unclaimed winnings is: R15m, expiring on December 24 this year; R21m, expiring on June 30 next year; R3.4m, expiring on July 21 next year; and R1.5m, expiring on July 25 next year.
Koloi said they tried
not to publish unclaimed winnings until three months before the due date of a ticket’s expiry.
“Ithuba uses all its communication channels to publicise jackpots which are about to expire - from our website, social media pages and SMS communication to our player database,” she said.
Altogether across the country, “R78040000 has yet to be claimed from our
Lotto and Powerball games between now and July 2018”.
This, Koloi added, included a R19292600 PowerBall Plus lottery jackpot ticket that will expire this Saturday should it not be claimed.
“The winning ticket was bought at The Pie Train shop in Isipingo, Durban, and was the only one in the country to match all five numbers in the PowerBall Plus game on July 29 last year.
“The PowerBall Plus jackpot had been very elusive with numerous rollovers which saw it growing to a massive R19.2m.”
Koloi added that there was also R16.5m unclaimed by a winner in the Western Cape.
This ticket, she said, would be forfeited on July 22, next year.