70-year-old pensioner joins South Africa’s oldest Powerball winners

A Rustenburg pensioner won the R33 million Powerball Plus jackpot recently.

The 70-year-old man spent R30 on the winning ticket for the 28 June 2022 draw.

Previously, he had played the Powerball for almost a decade and the most he had won was R80.

“I am so happy. I am going to build houses for my wife and child. Winning this amount will definitely make a big difference in my life,” said the winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous for now.

The Gauteng resident had checked the Powerball Plus results online and, much to his delight, the combination of numbers he chose were on point.

The latest jackpot winner is one of the oldest in the history of the Powerball and Powerball Plus draws in South Africa.

Earlier this year, a 67-year-old businessman from Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, won R167 million in the Powerball draw.

The sum marked the second-highest in the draw’s history. The biggest is the R232 million won in 2019.

Last year, there was a 72-year-old Durbanite who landed a R100 million-plus win in the Powerball draw, too.

“I was hoping to catch a big fish and instead caught a whale,” said the winner at the time.

“I had been playing for almost 14 years now, every Tuesday and Friday, the most I would win was between R30 to R60.”

Also earlier this year, a 50-year-old-man from East London in the Eastern Cape won R2.2 million. This wasn’t in the Powerball draw, but rather the Lotto.

He said he had no plans to change his life in drastic fashion on the back of the big win, but wanted to buy a house for his family as a real treat.

Then there was mid-2021’s 73-year-old winner of R30 million in the Lotto. He had actually won the jackpot a few months prior in April, but only came forward to claim the prize in June.

“I’m over the moon. I want to enjoy my winnings with my family and close friends. My family and I have a lovely home, and my wife recently purchased a new car. The winnings will go towards paying off all my debt and providing financial support to my extended family,” he enthused then.

On the flip side of some of the oldest winners in South Africa’s lottery winners, there’s also the youngest to have triumphed in the Powerball or Lotto draws.

One of the youngest was August 2021’s Durban winner. The 23-year-old student entered and won in the Lotto Plus 1 draw. She landed R3 million for her R80 quick-pick selection.

“When I found it in my purse. I decided to visit my nearest local store to validate the ticket, where the cashier advised me to go and claim my winnings,” she exclaimed.

“My wish has always been to build my mother her dream home where she can retire. I am also currently completing a course in business management and the winnings will go towards achieving many of my dreams. I want to complete my studies, invest and spoil my siblings.