South Africa Powerball – Online Lottery Review

SA Powerball Quick Overview

When we are talking about the South Africa Powerball, we are talking about the largest and most popular lottery not just in South Africa but also all of Africa. As the name suggests, the Powerball in South Africa is similar to the US Powerball in terms of gameplay but very different in the jackpots it offers and the bet prices. Namely, the South Africa Powerball offers lower jackpots but also at many favorable odds and lower prices.

The History of the South African Powerball

The South Africa Powerball was established in October 2009 and since then it has been operated and regulated by the South Africa National Lottery and the National Lotteries Commission.

National Lotteries Commission Pride

With its exciting gameplay and great prizes, this lottery surpassed South Africa’s other tremendously popular lottery, South Africa Lotto. In fact, it is recorded that for some of its high-jackpot draws, even up to 82% of South Africans are known to play this lottery.

The first-ever jackpot win was R30 million (€2 million), and ever since, this lottery have been changing lives on a regular basis.

The Powerball Changes

Ever since its first draw, the South Africa Powerball has changed its rules and terms of playing several times in order to make it more suitable for all its players. These changes, like organizing a second draw per week, made the game even more popular. Also, at the end of November 2015, the operators announced that they were increasing the overall odds of winning a prize and that they added more prize tiers so more people could win something.

At this time the bet price got increased to R5 (€0.33). This made some players unhappy but we did see some major boosts in the jackpot amounts, so we are sure they were happy about it afterward.

South Africa Powerball Donations

The revenue generated through sales is divided into the prize fund, operation costs, and donations. Approximately 34% of the bet sales are donated to a number of different charities and good causes in South Africa. These projects are in education, building housing, and many others.

How To Play the South African Powerball?

Upon purchasing a bet, players need to pick five numbers from a pool of numbers ranging from 1 to 45 and one Powerball number from a pool ranging from 1 to 20. There are two drums from which these two sets of numbers are draws which lengthens the odds slightly but the players’ chances are still great because the number pools are quite small.

The South Africa Powerball Twist

The rollover jackpot is known to reach great sums for the odds presented. However, there is a twist to the lower prize tiers. Namely, if no one wins the secondary prize, then it will roll down to the next tier. So, players do not have to even match as many balls as it is said to win some great prizes.

Additional Features

There is an additional SA Powerball feature and that is the Powerball Plus draw. Namely, players can pay R2.50 more which amounts to about $0.15 and they can potentially win more prizes after the main South Africa Powerball draw has finishes.

Odds of Winning the South Africa Powerball Lottery

As we said before, the odds, when compared to other major lotteries – especially the US Powerball, are excellent. There is a 1 in 24,435,180 shot that someone can win the jackpot here and in the US Powerball we have 1 in 292,201,338 which is more than ten times less likely to win it. However, we do have to take in account that the US Powerball jackpot is known to be even up to 100 times larger than the South Africa Powerball jackpots.

Even with that said, the numbers that show the chances of winning a person has are still impressive and we can see that by the many positive comments on social media. Namely, people need to match only five lottery balls to win while in Mega Millions they have to match seven and the odds for that are 1 in 302,575,350. Also, the UK 49s Lotto offers 1 in 45,057,474 while the Swiss Lotto has 1 in 31,474,716. Judging by these numbers, all these lotteries are tougher. Plus the numbers for winning any prize in the SA Powerball are 1 in 18, so that is very impressive on its own. However, we do have to note that the Hungary Hatoslottó offers a similar jackpot prize and has 1 in 8,145,060 chances in its draw, while the Canada Lotto 6/49 game offers 1 in 13,983,816 with every draw and much better lottery jackpots.

With that said, here are all the odds of winning the nine prize tiers and the approximate prize for each one:

– For the jackpot, players have to match a combination of five primary numbers and the Powerball number. The odds of winning are 1 in 24,435,180.

– The secondary prize tier can be won by matching only five winning numbers and the estimated prize amount is R366,137. The odds for this are 1 in 1,286,062.

– The third tier prize can be won by matching four primary numbers and the Powerball number. The prize for this is R20,914 and the odds of winning it are 1 in 122,176.

– The fourth tier prize can be won by matching a combination of only four winning numbers and the estimated prize amount is R375. The odds of matching this are 1 in 6,430.

– The fifth tier prize can be won by matching a combination of three primary numbers and the Powerball number. The prize for this is R370 and the odds of winning it are 1 in 3,133.

– The sixth tier prize can be won by matching only three winning numbers and the estimated prize amount is R18. The odds of matching this are 1 in 165.

– The seventh tier prize can be won by matching two primary numbers and the Powerball number. The prize for this is R18. The odds of matching this are 1 in 247.

– The eighth tier prize can be won by matching a combination of only one primary number and the Powerball number. The prize for this is R15. The odds of matching this are 1 in 53.

– To win the ninth tier prize a player has to match the Powerball number only and will win R10. The odds of winning this tier prize are 1 in 38.

South Africa Powerball Drawing Time

The South Africa Powerball has two drawings a week that take place at 9 pm SAST at their Sandton studio in South Africa’s capital, Johannesburg. The draws for this South African national lottery occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the Powerball Plus feature draw happens immediately after. You can check the results the next morning if you missed the live drawing.

The Major Powerball South Africa Jackpots

The South Africa Powerball has awarded people with some great jackpots throughout history, but here are the most notable ones to date:

– ZAR 232.13 million (€11.5 million) won in February 19, 2019

– ZAR 145.5 million (€9.4 million) won in August 3, 2018

– ZAR 141.34 million (€7 million) won in August 23, 2019

Payout Options

The South Africa Powerball national lottery does not offer the annual payment option as most lotteries do. Whatever prize you win, you will be awarded a lump sum in cash.

Paying Taxes

South Africa does not tax its winners, so the players can get every last cent that they won. For the jackpot winners, this means a lot, since other lotteries, in countries where lottery wins are taxed, pay a lot less as the final amount. However, if you are not a resident to the Republic of South Africa and you played the SA Powerball online, you will need to check your country’s tax policy on lottery wins. In fact, we recommend checking this before even starting to play any lottery anywhere in the world. This is the best way to prevent any unpleasant surprises once you win a prize.

South Africa Powerball – Would We Recommend It?

The South Africa Powerball is viewed as one of the SA national lotteries and is regulated by the National Lotteries Commission. This alone ensures that people are playing a legit game.

They have favorable odds, great nine prize tiers, and fantastic jackpots with no rollover caps. As such, we would definitely recommend this South African lottery not only for South Africa’s nationals but also for people anywhere in the world.