Johannesburg - Tuesday’s Powerball winning numbers have created controversy but Ithuba maintains the lottery on the night was not rigged.
In a surprising set of events, the numbers that were picked for Tuesday’s Powerball were 5,6,7,8,9 with a bonus number 10.
Even more surprising was that the draw saw the biggest number of jackpot winners in one night at 21.
Twenty people won their share of the jackpot, turning them into instant millionaires.
They each won R5.7 million. Another punter won the R5.8m PowerBall PLUS jackpot.
This beats the January 2018 record of four people who shared the R110m Lotto jackpot draw.
This led to speculation on social media that the Lotto might have been rigged.
But Ithuba, which runs the Lotto, rubbished the claims.
Ithuba spokesperson Busisiwe Msizi said Tuesday’s draw was historic and there was no foul play.
She said the sequence was common in lotteries across the globe.
Msizi said: “History and experience have taught us that it is common for multiple players to select the same winning numbers. Just a week ago, we celebrated two players who won the R19m PowerBall PLUS jackpot from the November 24 draw. What we were also not imagining was that 20 people could win the same jackpot… this came as a pleasant surprise to us and in fact, our wildest dream has come true.
“It has always been Ithuba’s goal to offer life-changing jackpots to as many people as possible, especially now following the tough year that we’ve had.”
The only province that didn’t have a winner for the night was North West.
Gauteng has eight new millionaires; KwaZulu-Natal three; Eastern Cape two and Mpumalanga two.
The Northern Cape, Free State and Western Cape all have one.
The Star