A Complete Guide to South African Lottery Games

At LottoSmile, you can play three of South Africa’s most popular and rewarding lotteries, including the South African PowerBall! This essential guide will give you all the information you’ll ever need to play a South African lottery, from tax information, draw times, winning odds and more!

Why Are South African Lottery Games So Popular?

The South Africa National Lottery was founded in 2002 with R70 million (approx. €4,376,645) worth of lottery tickets sold within the first few weeks. Since then, the country’s lottery scene has flourished and produced 8 exciting and extremely rewarding lotteries. Studies have even shown that 7 out of 10 people play the lottery on a daily basis. The popularity of lotteries in South Africa probably comes from the fact that they frequently offer impressive jackpots, lottery tickets are extremely affordable and most have numerous prize divisions for players to win from!

Can Foreigners Play the Lottery in South Africa?

Yes! Even if you’re not in South Africa, you can still play the country’s leading lotteries online at LottoSmile! All you need to do is fill in your online entry and LottoSmile will purchase official tickets on your behalf. Before the draw, you will receive a scan of your ticket that can be used for viewing purposes and proof of purchase. If you're lucky enough to win a prize, we’ll pay out your prize 100% commission-free. Visit our how it works page and learn more about LottoSmile’s lottery courier service.

Which Lottery is Easiest to Win in South Africa?

Looking at the odds, we’d say that South Africa Daily Lotto is the easiest lottery to win by far, with prize-winning odds at 1:376,992 for the jackpot prize! On the other hand, if we’re talking about which lottery has the best overall jackpot-to-odds ratio, we’d have to go with South Africa Lotto. While it does have lower odds at 1:20,385,520, this lottery puts out some of the highest jackpot prizes in the country, and if you compare it to South Africa PowerBall’s odds of 1:42,375,200 whose prizes are only slightly higher, you’re getting a pretty good deal from this longtime favourite!

The 5 Biggest Jackpots in South African Lottery History

The South Africa National Lottery has handed out some amazing jackpots over the last decade! Here is a list of the top 5 biggest jackpots:

Will I Be Taxed on My Winnings in South Africa?

Lucky for you, the answer is no. Unless you are a professional gambler, 100% of your prize winnings will be paid out to you in full. This, however, may change in the coming years as there have been proposals in South Africa to levy a 6% tax on online gambling; 1% tax on casino revenue and a 15% withholding tax on gambling winnings over R25,000. For now, National Lottery winnings are regarded as capital and are not included in the taxable income of an individual. If you win any lottery prizes, be sure to check the tax laws in your country of residence for any further local taxation you may be subject to.

Which South African Lotteries are Offered on LottoSmile?

At LottoSmile, you can find the country’s biggest lotteries including South Africa Lotto (the public’s preferred lottery to play), PowerBall and the newest addition, South Africa Daily Lotto.

South Africa Lotto

Lotto South Africa is the country’s first lottery, and to this day remains the public’s favourite by far! Roughly 82% of the country participates in the lottery’s bi-weekly draws. The lottery recently awarded the country’s third biggest jackpot which was worth R110,000,000 (approx. €7 million)!

Can Foreigners Play Lotto in South Africa?

Foreigners can legally play Lotto in South Africa. They just need to meet certain criteria before officially claiming their prize. First of all, you would need to be in possession of a signed original South Africa Lotto ticket. To have the winnings paid out, the winner needs to have a passport and valid permit for entering the country and since the money is only paid into South African bank accounts, the winner would also need to have a local bank account and submit proof as part of their claim as well as a few other steps one would need to take the money out of the country. Your other option is playing online at sites like LottoSmile. When you purchase your ticket from a messenger service, a representative from a local office buy’s an official lottery ticket from you from a local retailer. If you win any lottery prize, our agent will claim it on your behalf before transferring it to your personal account for withdrawal.

How Does South Africa Lotto Work?

Players need to select 6 numbers from a guess range of 1 to 52. In addition, when you enter a draw, you are automatically assigned a Bonus Ball which is chosen at the draw. South Africa Lotto has 8 prize divisions, 4 of which are eligible for boosted prize winnings when matching the Bonus Ball! You can easily see if you’ve won any prizes by visiting our Lottery results page!

When a jackpot is won, the lottery advertises an estimated jackpot based on the expected ticket sales for the upcoming draw. In the case where the jackpot was not won, the prize rolls over, and the amount is added to the upcoming draw’s jackpot.

South Africa Lotto holds draws every Wednesday and Saturday at 20:56 SAST.

South Africa PowerBall

The popular American lottery, US Powerball, was recreated with a South African twist and unveiled to the public in 2009. Now the SA PowerBall lottery is fast becoming a favourite for its enormous jackpots and has consistently broken jackpot records, with its most recent record reaching R232,131,750 (approx. €14.5 million) in February 2019. This is currently the biggest jackpot in South Africa to date!

How to Play South Africa PowerBall

Like US Powerball, you choose 5 numbers and can win from 9 prize divisions. Unlike it though, South Africa PowerBall has a guess range of 1-50 instead of the American 1-69. This means far better prize winning odds than the original! To win the jackpot, simply compare your 5 main numbers and the PowerBall number to the winning numbers drawn. But even if you didn’t match the jackpot winning numbers, make sure to check if you’ve won any of PowerBall’s amazing secondary prizes through our South Africa PowerBall results page!

In November of 2015, the odds of winning went up as more possibilities to win were added into the game. One example of this the 0+PB prize division which allows players who haven’t matched any winning numbers but matched the Power Ball number, to win a lottery prize.

South Africa PowerBall draws take place on Tuesday’s and Friday's at 21:00 SAST.

South Africa Daily Lotto

Daily Lotto has been taking South Africa by storm! Even though the Lotto spin-off was only recently launched in March of 2019, there’s already a lot to love about the up-and-coming daily lottery. Besides from being able to play for great lottery prizes every day of the week, the lottery features unbelievable winning odds of just 1:376,992 and the chance to get boosted secondary prizes!

How to Play South Africa Daily Lotto?

Daily Lotto features 4 prize divisions for players to win from with a starting jackpot of approximately R100,000 (approx. €6,340). To participate, players are required to select 5 numbers from a guess range of 1 to 36. 

This South African daily lottery guarantees that it will pay out every penny of the winnings to the winners! How? Whenever a jackpot or secondary division isn’t won, the prize automatically rolls down to the next prize division. This means players have the chance to win boosted lottery prizes every day of the week! Want to see if you’ve won? Check out the SA Daily Lotto results page!

South Africa Daily Lotto stages draws every day, Sunday through Saturday, at 21:00 SAST.

Play South African Lotteries Today at LottoSmile!

South African lotteries are really starting to up their game, with new lotteries and constantly bigger jackpots, so it’s no wonder they’re gaining worldwide popularity and recognition! At LottoSmile, we have three of the biggest South African lotteries just waiting for you to play. With their fantastic tax-free jackpots, numerous prize divisions, you’ll be winning in no time!