Ten yet to claim part of R21,8m jackpot

By Joseph Booysen and Esther Lewis

Lotto operator Gidani says there is nothing unusual about Saturday's draw, which saw 18 punters sharing the jackpot of R21,8-million.

Each person won R1,2-million, although 10 people have not claimed their winnings.

This week the Cape Argus received a deluge of SMSes from readers questioning the result.

More than 48-million tickets were sold for Saturday's draw.

Gidani said that so far, only eight of the 18 winners had claimed their money - three from Gauteng, two from the Western Cape, two from KwaZulu-Natal and one from North West Province

Thembi Tulwana, Gidani's spokesperson, said this was not the highest number of people to have shared the jackpot.

In October 2001, out of 38-million tickets sold, 19 people shared just about R17-million.

Then in March 2003, a record number of 33 people shared the R19m jackpot, making that the highest number of people to win the jackpot in the history of the National Lottery.

According to Tulwana, the odds of winning a jackpot are 1:13,9-million.

On average, since the launch of the National Lottery in 2001, 1,02 people win the jackpot at a time.

Since Gidani started operating the lottery from October 2007 the average number of people winning the jackpot at a time has been 1,10.

When asked whether there was a strategy people used for playing, she said: "Some use birthday numbers, quick picks, continuously use the same numbers or use other milestone numbers in their lives.

"There is no science in the way people play."

• This article was originally published on page 6 of The Cape Argus on February 12, 2009