Best Lottery Sites South Africa

Now that you know where to play lotto online, we bet you’re wondering how to play Lotto online in South Africa? Well, it’s actually quite easy! That must be why it’s the most popular type of gambling in South Africa.

Lotto online offers two weekly draws with an entry cost of R5 per board. All you need to do is choose six different numbers between 1 and 52. Then cross your fingers and wait for the draw (held on Wednesdays and Saturdays).

Phanda, Pusha, Play!

The online gambling market in South Africa is estimated to reach an incredible 3.72 million Rands by 2023. The legalization of various types of online gambling and a never-increasing demand for online gambling products has resulted in hundreds of online gambling websites, all of them proclaiming to be the best in what they do. This also holds true in the case of online lottery websites.

There are tons of options and a prospective user could become overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. We save you the trouble by analyzing all these options under a lens and recommending only the shortlisted best. So, why should you go by our list of best lottery sites recommendations?

We consider a multitude of factors before making a recommendation.

What we Look for in Best Lottery Sites

Reliability and Safety: The single most important factor is whether the lottery site is safe or not. When we tick the safety check box, we are looking to ensure that the lottery site is legal, licensed, lawful and fair. We ensure that the site actually pay’s winners their money and that they do so in a fair and hassle free manner. We also take into account whether the site has SSL encryption, a good privacy policy and what data protection standards they abide by.

Best Odds: The odds of winning a lottery jackpot will depend on the lottery being played. However, the online lottery site can make a difference by offering strategies and models that players can use in order to increase their odds of winning one of the prizes offered by whichever lottery they are playing.

Size of Jackpot: When we think of winning the lottery, it’s usually hundreds of millions of Rands – an amount of money which will let us retire early and in style. It would be a real let down to win a lottery against all odds and the jackpot turns out to be underwhelming. This will never happen at one of our choices of lottery sites.

Payout Speed: If and when you win a lottery prize, you don’t really have peace of mind until the money is in your bank account and all formalities are done with. We ensure that the lottery sites we recommend have a quick payout time with reasonable security verification procedures. We detest online sites which make it challenging to withdraw your own money.

Claiming process: Our recommended online lottery sites have simple and reasonable processes in place through which winners can claim their rewards. We ensure these are within acceptable standards and not unnecessarily cumbersome. Usually, the payout process could vary depending on the value of the prize being paid out.

Variety of games: Variety is the spice of life, and this statement can be applied when playing the lottery too. These lottery websites bring you a host of game options – classic lotteries, syndicates, raffles, and more. Not to mention they cover a ton of lotteries from countries all over the world.

Website Usability: The user interface and user experience of the lottery websites we recommend are of the best standards. Players will find it easy and seamless to pick numbers, buy entries, view the draw results and even get notifications. These websites are self-explanatory and easy to use.

Mobile compatibility: Not all of us have the time to be on desktop computers all day long. We want to be able to buy lottery tickets on the go. Even if our recommended lottery websites don’t have dedicated mobile apps, the website is mobile-friendly so you can buy your tickets from your smartphone or tablet.

The most crucial factor is always going to be safety and lawfulness of the website. However, apart from the above-mentioned factors, we also consider aspects such as customer service, banking options, support for South African Rands, and more.

An online lottery website is effectively a service where South African players can purchase lottery tickets for lotteries from around the world and local South African lotteries as well. Using these platforms, a player based in South African can legally play world-renowned lotteries like EuroMillions, Powerball, Italy SuperEnalotto and more.

Get Deals from the Best Lottery Sites

What’s more? We have worked out various deals with our recommended online lottery service partners to bring our readers exclusive sign-up offers. You could even get a free ticket for signing up. Play the world’s biggest lotteries from the comfort of your own home by buying lotto tickets on sites like Lotto 365 or the lottery site catering to locals, Lotto Fun, and other world-class online lottery ticketing services like Lotto Send

 

The Lotter is an online lottery service which is extremely popular and considered one of the best. The Lotter was launched in 2002 and offer players access to the world’s biggest lotteries. Their platform is mobile friendly and compatible and the commission charged is reasonable for the value offered. The lotter has paid out over $100 million in prizes to over 5 million winners across the globe.

• Reliability & Safety –The Lotter is owned and operated by a well – established company, Lotto Direct Limited. The Lotter is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority and is safe and reliable.
• Odds –The odds of winning a lottery prize at The Lotter will vary depending on which lottery you play and what specific prize we are talking about. The Lotter does offer syndicate options which increases your odds of winning substantially.
• Size of Jackpot –You can play the biggest jackpots available such as EuroMillions, Mega Millions, Powerball, etc.
• Speed of payouts –The Lotter pays out winnings without any undue delay. The processing time will depend on the banking method used by the player.
• Claiming prize process –There are over 18 different payout options including credit cards, eWallets, bank transfer and others.
• Game choices–Mega Millions, USA Powerball, Italy SuperEnalotto, EuroMillions and many more.

Lottery Master is an easy-to-use online lottery website which was launched in 2002 and is based out of the United Kingdom. They offer players access to 15 of the world’s top lotteries including EuroMillions, US Powerball and Mega Millions. The Lottery Master is a good option for South African players and their customer support is responsive and helpful.

• Reliability & Safety –Lottery Master is a safe and secure platform to play with. They get their SSL encryption from GeoTrust which is a top digital certificate provider. The website is also certified safe by McAffee Secure and Norton Safe Web System licenses.
• Odds –As with any other lottery website, the odds of winning a jackpot prize depends on the jackpot and the prize in question. However, Lottery Master does a great job of publishing the odds and other relevant details for all of the lotteries that they offer.
• Size of jackpot –The biggest jackpots are to be found at Lottery Master. This includes EuroMillions, Mega Millions and US Powerball.
• Speed of payouts –Payouts are processed through Visa, Mastercard, iDeal, Skrill, Bank Transfers and several other options, the speed will vary on which banking option you choose.
• Claiming prize process– The claiming process is easy and hassle free. The lottery master will notify you if you have won and let you know exactly what is required to claim your prize.
• Game choices: 15+ lotteries are available at Lottery Master.

Jackpot.com is an online lottery service that works in a rather different model to other platforms like Lotto Agent and The Lotter. The key difference is that instead of buying a lottery ticket on your behalf, Jackpot.com acts instead as a bookmaker and takes your bet on the result of lotteries. For the user, the rewards are just as prolific as winning the lottery jackpot itself.

• Reliability & Safety –Jackpot.com is one of the most secure and safe online lottery platforms you will come across. This website is licensed by the revered United Kingdom Gambling Commission.
• Odds –When playing at Jackpot.com, the fundamental difference is that you don’t actually play the lottery, you just bet on the winning lottery numbers and jackpot.com plays the role of the bookmaker. The offer the same odds as the lottery itself.
• Size of jackpot –Despite thefact that you don’t actually enter the lottery by purchasing a lottery ticket when you play at Jackpot.com, you can expect to win the same amount of money if you bet on the winning numbers. So, where do the winnings come from, if not for the lottery pool? Well, it comes from an insurance model which insures each bet made on jackpot.com
• Speed of payouts – Payouts are processed right after your verification process is completed after you win. Credit cards, Neteller, Skrill, Bank Transfer and several other withdrawal options are supported.
• Claiming prize process –Claiming your prize is easy. You simply need to verify your identity by providing support documents and the winnings are transferred to you.
• Game choices –Jackpot.com offers 30+ lotteries from around the world.

Giant Lottos is a top-quality lottery ticket purchasing service website that lets you buy tickets for lotteries from all over the world even though you are based in South Africa. This website is a great option for South African players, and is in fact, even available in Afrikaans. They offer secure payment and withdrawal options and let you play all of the top lotteries of the world. You also have the ability to ‘bulk-buy’ and play several lottery draws simultaneously.

• Reliability & Safety –Giant Lottos has a secured and encrypted connection through SSL encryption technology. The SSL service is provided by Cloudflare, a well known and leading cyber security firm.
• Odds –The odds offered for any lottery prize is the same as the official odds offered by the lottery operators. You can improve the odds by playing syndicates or using known lottery strategies.
• Size of jackpot – Giant Lottos offers jackpots that are truly giant. The largest jackpot lotteries such as Mega Millions, Euro Millions and the US Powerball are amongst the lotteries covered on this website.
• Speed of payouts –The speed of payout will depend on the banking method being used.
• Claiming prize process –Giant Lottos will notify you if you win and they will also claim the prize on your behalf. Claiming the prize is easy, you just need to complete security verification procedures.
• Game choices–12 lotteries are offered at Giant Lottos.

Lotto Send is yet another top-quality online lottery option for South African players. This online lottery ticket purchasing website offers 16 licensed lotteries and a myriad of promotions and bonuses to keep their players engaged and excited. Customer support can be reached via telephone which is always a reassuring sign. The FAQ section is detailed and provides all the resolutions to most of the common question’s players may have.

• Reliability & Safety –Lotto Send is a safe platform which uses SSL encryption. It is certified by Norton, McAffee, GeoTrust and Comodo.
• Odds –The odds can be increased by using the group play feature which is available at Lotto Send.
• Size of jackpot – The biggest jackpots offered at Lotto Send includes Mega Millions, US Powerball, Euro Millions and Italy SuperEnalotto.
• Speed of payouts –The payout speed is dependent on the withdrawal method used. Credit card payouts are processed in 3-5 business days, but e – wallet payouts are processed with 72 hours.
• Claiming prize process– Winnings are deposited to your Lotto Send account right away. You may withdraw the winnings using your preferred banking method or use them to fund further play.
• Game choices – You can play 16+ lotteries from around the world.

The current games available through the South African National Lottery are:

• Lotto
• Lotto Plus 1
• Lotto Plus 2
• PowerBall
• Daily Lotto SA National Lottery
• SPORTSTAKE 13
• EAZiWIN

About the ITHUBA National lottery

ITHUBA Holdings is the name of the company that operates the South African National Lottery games. The license to operate national lottery games was issued to ITHUBA in 2015. The regulator of the national lottery is an authoritative state organization called the National Lottery Commission and which was founded in 2000.

To play any of the National Lottery games, players need to be at least 18 years or older. Tickets may only be purchased at approved retailers and other authorized partners. Currently, there are 8 lottery games which are operated by the ITHUBA National Lottery. They are – National lotteries Lotto & Lotto Plus 1, Lotto Plus 2, PowerBall, Daily Lotto, SPORTSTAKE 13 and EAZiWIN. The following games are no longer continued – Wina Manje, Raffle and Pick 3.

Some of the biggest jackpots awarded by the ITHUBA National Lottery of South African include the top three below

R232,131,750 – won playing the game PowerBall in draw number 965 by a sole winner, a man who was in his 50s

R153,466,150 – won playing the game PowerBall Plus in draw number 1110 by a sole winner, a man who remained anonymous and was not a regular player of lottery games

R145,469,799 –won playing the game PowerBall in draw number 908 by a sole winner, a 34 – year old man

 

The first woman to win a lottery jackpot of over 100 million was awarded to a 35-year-old lady in 2020. She won playing PowerBall and the jackpot awarded was R114,242,816.

 

Lottery Games in South Africa

• Lotto: You will have to pick six numbers and buy a ticket to enter the draw. The numbers need to be picked from a range of 1 – 52. If you match at least three numbers, you are eligible for a prize. You need to match all six numbers to win the jackpot. Find out if you won by consulting our latest daily lotto results.
• Lotto Plus 1: Lotto Plus one works in the same way as Lotto, but the difference is that the players get one more chance to win. The Lotto Plus 1 tickets costs R2.50 extra. Draws are conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Get the latest results for Lotto & Lotto Plus.
• Lotto Plus 2: Along the same lines of how Lotto Plus 1 gives a player a second chance to win, Lotto Plus 2 gives a player a third chance to win. It costs an additional R2.50 per board.
• PowerBall: The player picks five main numbers from 1 to 50 and one Powerball number from 1 to 20. The entry costs R5 per board. The top price is reserved for matching all five main numbers and the Powerball number.
• PowerBall Plus: PowerBall Plus is to PowerBall what Lotto Plus is to Lotto. If you buy the PowerBall Plus entry at an additional R2.50, then you get a second chance to win the PowerBall.
• Daily Lotto: The name gives it away. This is a lottery game where the draw takes place every night at 21:00 Central African Time. Players need to choose five different numbers from 1 – 36. If there is no ticket that matches all five numbers, the jackpot prize is given away to the ticket or tickets that matched the first four numbers.
• SPORTSTAKE 13: This is a rather different lottery game offered by the South African National Lottery when compared to the rest. The main difference being that you don’t have to pick numbers and then see if you matched them. Instead, you will be predicting the results of 13 sporting fixtures. The specific fixtures are decided by the National Lottery and are usually from English and other professional soccer leagues. You may select a single or multiple predictions for each fixture. Your choices are home win, draw or away win. The jackpot is awarded if you match all 13 results, but there are also prizes for matching 12, 11 and 10 out of the 13 results. The odds of the matching 13 are 1 in 1,593,323
• EAZiWIN: Apart from tickets for lottery draw games, the National Lottery also offers instant win scratch cards which are not physical, tangible cards but digital in nature. The card is compared with a slip. The names of the games are Popa Feela, 4 Siya Wina, Fafi Fortune and Morabaraba. The first two games cost R3 per card and the latter two cost R5 per card. For the R3 Cards, you can win a prize up to R30,000 and for the R5 card, you can win a max prize of up to R100,000.

South African players and players of other nationalities who are based in South Africa are not confined to only playing games operated by the ITHUBA National Lottery. South African players can safely and legally participate in lotteries from various other countries as well as play games that simulate the lottery such as lotto mania slots.

In fact, a South African player does not even have to visit the home country of the lottery to partake in the lottery. For instance, if you want to play popular international lotteries like the Italian SuperEnalotto, you can play from South Africa even if you’ve never set foot in Italy before.

If you happen to be interested in playing incredibly huge lotteries such as Mega Millions, Powerball, SuperEnalotto and EuroMillions, you can do so through online lottery service websites. We have already provided you with a list of our top recommended online lottery service websites. Using such online platforms, players can make their lottery number selections, pay for the ticket entry online and purchase their tickets.

The way it works is simple – you pick a lottery to play, choose the required numbers and pay for the ticket online. Once your payment is confirmed, a land-based agent in the home country of the lottery you are playing will actually buy the ticket as specified by you and send you a scanned copy of the ticket. Through such online lottery websites, you can even view draw results, play through the syndicate option, and much more. In the event that your ticket wins, you will be notified and the online lottery service will even help you successfully claim the winnings.

Some of the most popular international lotteries that South African players can play are:

US Mega Millions: Mega Millions is an American lottery game which offers one of the biggest jackpots among lotteries anywhere in the world. The highest ever jackpot that was paid through this lottery game was $1.537 billion. The draw happens twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The draw is telecasted live on a few American cable tv channels. For every entry you make, you need to pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers. Among the six should be five picks between 1 and 70 and one pick between 1 and 25. There are 9 different prizes including the jackpot for matching all six.

SuperEnalotto

The SuperEnalotto is one of the world’s most lucrative lottery jackpots and it takes place in Italy. You don’t have to be in Italy to participate. South African players are welcome to use online services to play the SuperEnalotto. The minimum guaranteed jackpot for every draw of the SuperEnalotto is €2 million. In order to play the SuperEnalotto you need to buy a ticket on which you need to pick six main numbers between 1 and 90. If you choose to play the SuperStar version, you will have to pick an additional SuperStart number between 1 and 90. For every entry purchased, the player also gets an automatic chance to win an Instant Win prize not related to the numbers picked in the draw.

EuroMillions

The EuroMillions draw happens two times a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The EuroMillions jackpot can reach value of up to €190 million consistently. The first EuroMillions draw took place in 2004. The draw happens in Spain and players from all over Europe and other parts of the world, including South Africa, are welcome to take part. For every entry ticket, you need to choose 5 numbers between 1 and 50 and 2 numbers between 1 and 12. If you match all 7, you win the grand jackpot.

Italy EuroJackpot

The Italy EuroJackpot is one of among the 18 lottery games that make up the EuroJackpot, a transactional European Lottery which began in 2012. The other participating countries include Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. In order to win the Jackpot, you will need to match 5 main numbers between the range of 1 to 50 and another 2 special numbers between the range of 1 to 10. The draw occurs once a week in Helsinki at 21:00 local time.

The EuroJackpot pays out at a higher rate when compared to other European lotteries such as EuroMillions or the German Lotto. The odds of winning the jackpot in the EuroJackpot is 1 in 95 million which is better than then odds of 1 in 139 million for EuroMillions or German Lotto. The biggest every jackpot which was paid out courtesy of the EuroJackpot was €90,000,000 to a player based in Finland in August of 2019. The biggest winner out of Italy recorded thus far was a win in May of 2020 which was worth €33,290,606. The EuroJackpot was formed to compete with the EuroMillions by matching the jackpot value, the idea was that the EuroJackpot value would give EuroMillions a run for its money considering the EuroJackpot would have a pool sourced from several participating countries.

German Lotto

Along with the likes of EuroMillions, EuroJackpot and ItaltySuperEnalotto, the German Lotto is one of the largest lotteries in Europe and consequently also in the world. One of the main attraction points of the German Lotto is its remarkably low price per line. Lotteries are usually inexpensive, but the German Lotto is one of the most affordable. Given the low price, the German Lotto has a huge number of players that play every draw since the loss incurred is not substantial compared to the potential reward they could get.

Apart from the top jackpot, the German Lotto offers 10 other prizes and even includes 3 other bonus games. The local name for the German Lotto is 6 aus 49 which translates to six out of 49. As this name suggests, you need to pick six numbers from 1 – 49. The jackpot winning ticket is one which matches all six numbers and also the additional Superball number.

A single line entry costs as little as €1.20, the DoubleJackpot option costs an additional €1. The additional bonus games can be played at additional costs. The bonus games are called Spiel77, Super6 andGlücksSpirale.

The minimum jackpot is guaranteed at €1 million, however, you can rest assured that it usually pays much higher than that. There is no cap on the max jackpot amount. The record for the highest jackpot paid out so far is €45.4 million. A huge perk of playing the German Lotto is that the winnings are not subject to any tax at all, all prizes are completely tax-free.

US Powerball

The US Powerball is a very popular lottery not just in the US, but also in various other parts of the world including South Africa. One of the main reasons for its popularity can be attributed to the fact that the US Powerball is credited with having paid out the biggest ever jackpot in the history of lotteries. This jackpot was of $1.586 billion and was won on 13^th January 2016.

It was in April of 1992 that LottoAmerica was rebranded as the US Powerball. Along with the rebranding, the gameplay mechanism was also revolutionized and it became the gold standard for American lotteries going forward. Until the US Powerball did it in 1992, all lotteries only used one drum to draw numbers from. The US Powerball unveiled the second drum for the first time in 1992 and it has now been adopted by most of the top lotteries in the world.

The ticket costs $2 per play. Players can make an entry by choosing five main numbers from a range of 1 to 69 and 1 special number called the Powerball between the range of 1 to 26. This Powerball number is what is drawn from the second drum. To win the top prize, a ticket needs to match all five numbers as well as the Powerball number. There are also 8 other prizes up for grabs apart from the grand prize. The odds of winning the Grand Prize are 1 in 292,201,338. The draw takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays every week at the Florida Lottery’s Tallahassee studio at 10:59 pm easter time on the dot.

Some of the biggest recorded US Powerball Jackpot are: a win of $1.6 billion in January of 2016 (the highest ever jackpot win recorded for any lottery in the world), a win of $758.7 million in August of 2017 and a win of $687.8 million in October of 2018.

Depending on where you live, winning the US Powerball could attract taxation from the Federal government as well as the State Government. Winnings can be accepted as single lump-sum cash payment or through an annuity option paid out annually over the period of 30 years.