South Africa National Lottery – Daily Lotto

Daily Lotto is a new variant of the popular lotto game launched by Ithuba in March 2019. Instead of the 52 numbers in other lotto games, players in Daily Lotto have to pick from a maximum of 36 numbers to play the game. This game guarantees lightning-quick prizes since the draw occurs every night at 9.

How To Play Daily Lotto?

Daily Lotto offers players numbers from 1 to 36. To play the game, you have to pick any five numbers. If you want to leave things to chance, you can choose the Quick Draw option at the retailer or online. This option assigns five random numbers to you. The simplest way to play the Daily Lotto is by buying a bet slip at an authorized retail shop. You can find such establishments all over South Africa.

You can select the five numbers you wish to bet on once you get a slip. Use a pen or pencil to mark these numbers on the slip. There is also the option to use the same numbers for multiple draws. If you want to use this feature, mark the relevant Multi-Draw option on the slip. The price of the bet will, of course, increase when you opt to use Multi-Draw.

Prizes are awarded to all players who correctly pick the numbers selected in the daily draw. There are four different levels of winners, depending on the number of correct matches. The jackpot is awarded to players who get all five numbers correct. Then, there are prizes for those who get four, three, and two numbers.

Daily Lotto is a game of chance and you need a lot of luck to win the jackpot. Ithuba estimates that the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 376,992. But there is a higher chance of winning the lower-rank prizes. For example, there is a 1 in 81 chance of getting 3 correct numbers and a one in eight chance of getting two matching numbers.

Play Daily Lotto Online

The South Africa National Lottery has a dedicated website and mobile phone app for online-savvy gamblers. You can register an account online using either of these options. You must provide your name and an ID to register the account. Once you log into the account, you can deposit cash into the online wallet and buy lotto tickets.

All deposits and withdrawals on your Ithuba wallet are subject to processing fees. You can check for all information online at the operator's website. SMS betting is also available at Ithuba once you register online. You can use USSDs to pick the five numbers for your Daily Lotto bet. Check the Ithuba website to learn more.

What Does It Cost To Play The Daily Lotto?

The Daily Lotto does not have any additional bonus games. So, the only price you must pay to play is R3 per bet. Playing with bet slips offline has a maximum limit of R150 per bet slip.

Why Play Daily Lotto?

You can check out the regular Lotto and Powerball from Ithuba for life-changing jackpots. In comparison, the Daily Lotto has a relatively smaller prize pool. This is mainly due to the daily draw and the rule that prevents the rollover of winnings when there is no jackpot winner.

While that may seem like a bad deal, it is quite the opposite. Daily Lotto guarantees a full payout of the prize money every day, even if none of the players guess the jackpot numbers correctly. This means many people will get a higher share of the prize, rather than one person getting crazy rich.

Since the lotto ticket price is low and they have a daily draw, it is a no-brainer to put a few extra Rands on Daily Lotto every day. With an average winning chance of 1 in 7, you stand a good chance of getting at least 10-15 Rands for your investment if you get just two numbers right.

Lucky jackpot winners can expect to take home up to R200,000 or more if they only got all five numbers right. That may pale compared to the millions paid by bigger Lottos and Powerball, but for R3, it is still a darn good return!

The National Lottery Operator

The Lottery Operator bidding process in South Africa has thrown up several controversies. Gidani won the bid in 2007 after a legal challenge from the earlier operator was struck down by the court. In 2015, it was Gidani’s turn to go to the Court to protest when Ithuba was selected as the winning bidder. The subsequent High Court judgment has cemented Ithuba’s position as South Africa National Lottery’s legal operator.

Over the past four years, they have done a good job of running the National Lottery, instilling confidence in the players by delivering quick payouts and introducing fun new games. They also donate a portion of their revenues to a charitable fund.

When Does The Daily Lotto Draw Take Place?

The Daily Lotto draw is scheduled for every night at 9 PM SAST. Lotto sales for the day finish half an hour before that, at around 8:30 PM, at the retailers and online. There is no live broadcast of the Daily Lotto draw anywhere. However, players can find the winning numbers by around 9:30 PM on the National Lottery website or at any authorized retail shop.