R87-million Lotto Winner Finally Steps Forward!

The lucky winner of the recent Powerball lottery has finally stepped forward to claim the jackpot, said Ithuba yesterday (27 July 2016).

Businessman John Mphosi and his employees have been trying to track down the winner since last week Friday (22 July 2016).

R87-million for a R20 Ticket

The unassuming man spent R20 on a Powerball ticket at a petrol station in Mokapane. Little did he know his return on this small investment would be R87-million!

The fortunate man’s ticket has been validated, although he will only get the money after meeting with officials, said Ithuba.

The R87-million cash prize is the fourth biggest in the history of South Africa’s Powerball.

No-one Claims Jackpot

Strangely enough, it took almost a week for the man to show up. Although, he purchased the winning Quick Pick ticket less than two hours before the draw.

After the winning numbers were announced and no-one showed up to claim the prize, the petrol station was flooded by visits and calls from people claiming they were the winner.

Mystery of the Winner

Naturally, there was a lot of excitement around it. Employees of the station were asked if they remembered who had bought the ticket. But, as it was such a busy day, none of them could recall.

The filling station even had to go through CCTV footage, but struggled to figure out who had actually purchased the ticket.

Last year, Ithuba took over the operations of the lottery from Gidani. This jackpot is their biggest since the takeover.

Gaining this overwhelming cash prize could be potentially traumatic for the jackpot winner, said Counsellor Vaughn Grantham. He urged winners to go for counselling.