Best Lottery Sites South Africa

Welcome to a detailed analysis and guide to the best lottery sites available to South African players. If you are based in South Africa and are interested in playing some of the biggest lotteries online and find out how to actually win a lottery, then you are at the right place. This guide will give you insight into the best online lottery sites for South African players & discuss the pros and cons.

Using our recommendations, not only can you participate in some of South Africa’s top lotteries, but you can also play other huge lotteries worldwide. We revise and update this guide regularly, so you have all the latest information and news to make an informed decision. Let’s look at our recommendations for the best lottery sites in South Africa.

Now that you know where to play the lotto online, we bet you’re wondering how to play Lotto online in South Africa. Well, it’s quite easy! That must be why it’s the most popular type of gambling in South Africa.

Lotto online offers two weekly draws with an entry cost of R5 per board. All you need to do is choose six different numbers between 1 and 52. Then cross your fingers and wait for the draw (held on Wednesdays and Saturdays).

Phanda, Pusha, Play!

How to Buy Your Lottery Ticket Online

While you can buy lottery tickets at retailers around South Africa, one of the most convenient choices is buying your lottery ticket online. You can use any of the above-listed lottery sites to purchase your tickets. It’s safe, secure, and easy.

Register at one of the best lottery sites, purchase your ticket, choose your numbers, or you can have the numbers randomly generated for you. Then wait for the results. You will need to validate your winnings if it's a big jackpot. You can find all the information about how to do so on PlayCasino

The online gambling market in South Africa is estimated to reach an incredible 3.72 million Rands by 2023. The legalization of various types of online gambling and a never-increasing demand for online gambling products has resulted in hundreds of online gambling websites, all proclaiming to be the best in their business. This also holds in the case of online lottery websites.

There are many options, and a prospective user could become overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. We save you the trouble by analyzing all these options under a lens and recommending only the shortlisted best. So, why should you go by our list of best lottery sites recommendations?

We consider a multitude of factors before making a recommendation.

What we Look for in Best Lottery Sites

Reliability and Safety: The most important factor is whether the lottery site is safe. When we tick the safety check box, we want to ensure that the lottery site is legal, licensed, lawful and fair. We ensure that the site pays winners their money and that they do so in a fair and hassle-free manner. We also consider whether the site has SSL encryption, a good privacy policy, and what data protection standards they abide by.

Best Odds: The odds of winning a lottery jackpot will depend on the lottery being played. However, the online lottery site can make a difference by offering strategies and models that players can use to increase their odds of winning one of the prizes offered by whichever lottery they are playing.

Size of Jackpot: When we think of winning the lottery, it’s usually hundreds of millions of Rands – an amount of money that will let us retire early and in style. It would be a real letdown to win a lottery against all odds, and the jackpot turns out to be underwhelming. This will never happen at one of our choices of lottery sites.

Payout Speed: If and when you win a lottery prize, you don’t have peace of mind until the money is in your bank account and all formalities are done with. We ensure that the lottery sites we recommend have a quick payout time with reasonable security verification procedures. We detest online sites which make it challenging to withdraw your own money.

Claiming process: Our recommended online lottery sites have simple and reasonable processes in place through which winners can claim their rewards. We ensure these are within acceptable standards and not unnecessarily cumbersome. Usually, the payout process could vary depending on the value of the prize being paid out.

Variety of games: Variety is the spice of life, and this statement can be applied when playing the lottery too. These lottery websites offer game options – classic lotteries, syndicates, raffles, and more. Not to mention they cover a ton of lotteries from countries worldwide.

Website Usability: The user interface and user experience of the lottery websites we recommend are of the best standards. Players will find it easy and seamless to pick numbers, buy entries, view the draw results, and even get notifications. These websites are self-explanatory and easy to use.

Mobile compatibility: Not all of us have the time to be on desktop computers all day. We want to be able to buy lottery tickets on the go. Even if our recommended lottery websites don’t have dedicated mobile apps, the website is mobile-friendly so that you can buy your tickets from your smartphone or tablet.

The most crucial factor will always be the website's safety and lawfulness. However, apart from the above factors, we also consider aspects such as customer service, banking options, support for South African Rands, and more.

An online lottery website is effectively a service where South African players can purchase lottery tickets for lotteries worldwide and local South African lotteries. Using these platforms, a player based in South Africa can legally play world-renowned lotteries like EuroMillions, Powerball, Italy SuperEnalotto, LottoLand, and more.

Get Deals from the Best Lottery Sites

What’s more? We have worked out various deals with our recommended online lottery service partners to bring our readers exclusive sign-up offers. You could even get a free ticket for signing up. Play the world’s biggest lotteries from the comfort of your own home by buying lotto tickets on sites like Lotto 365 or the lottery site catering to locals, Lotto Fun, and other world-class online lottery ticketing services like Lotto Send

The Lotter is an online lottery service that is extremely popular and considered one of the best. The Lotter was launched in 2002 and offers players access to the world’s biggest lotteries. Their platform is mobile-friendly and compatible, and the commission charged is reasonable for the value offered. The lotter has paid over $100 million in prizes to over 5 million winners across the globe.

• Reliability & Safety –The Lotter is owned and operated by a well–established company, Lotto Direct Limited. The Lotter is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority and is safe and reliable.

• Odds –The odds of winning a lottery prize at The Lotter will vary depending on which lottery you play and what specific prize we are discussing. The Lotter does offer syndicate options which increases your odds of winning substantially.

• Size of Jackpot –You can play the biggest jackpots available such as EuroMillions, Mega Millions, Powerball, etc.

• Speed of payouts –The Lotter pays out winnings without any undue delay. The processing time will depend on the banking method used by the player.

• Claiming prize process –There are over 18 payout options, including credit cards, eWallets, bank transfers, etc.

• Game choices–Mega Millions, USA Powerball, Italy SuperEnalotto, EuroMillions, and many more.

Lottery Master is an easy-to-use online lottery website launched in 2002 and based out of the United Kingdom. They offer players access to 15 world’s top lotteries, including EuroMillions, US Powerball, and Mega Millions. The Lottery Master is a good option for South African players, and their customer support is responsive and helpful.

• Reliability & Safety –Lottery Master is a safe and secure platform to play with. They get their SSL encryption from GeoTrust, a top digital certificate provider. The website is also certified safe by McAffee Secure and Norton Safe Web System licenses.

• Odds –As with other lottery websites, the odds of winning a jackpot prize depend on the jackpot and the prize in question. However, Lottery Master does a great job of publishing the odds and other relevant details for all the lotteries they offer.

• Size of the jackpot –The biggest jackpots are found at Lottery Master. This includes EuroMillions, Mega Millions, and US Powerball.

• Speed of payouts –Payouts is processed through Visa, Mastercard, iDeal, Skrill, Bank Transfers, and several other options. The speed will vary on which banking option you choose.

• Claiming prize process– The claiming process is easy and hassle-free. The lottery master will notify you if you have won and let you know exactly what is required to claim your prize.

• Game choices: 15+ lotteries are available at Lottery Master.

Jackpot.com is an online lottery service that works similarly to other platforms like Lotto Agent and The Lotter. The key difference is that instead of buying a lottery ticket on your behalf, Jackpot.com acts as a bookmaker and takes your bet on the result of lotteries. For the user, the rewards are just as prolific as winning the lottery jackpot itself.

• Reliability & Safety –Jackpot.com is one of the most secure and safe online lottery platforms you will come across. The revered United Kingdom Gambling Commission licenses this website.

• Odds –When playing at Jackpot.com, the fundamental difference is that you don’t play the lottery, you just bet on the winning lottery numbers, and jackpot.com plays the role of the bookmaker. They offer the same odds as the lottery itself.

• Size of the jackpot –Despite the fact that you don’t enter the lottery by purchasing a lottery ticket when you play at Jackpot.com, you can expect to win the same amount of money if you bet on the winning numbers. So, where do the winnings come from if not for the lottery pool? Well, it comes from an insurance model which insures each bet made on jackpot.com

• Speed of payouts – Payouts are processed right after your verification process is completed after you win. Credit cards, Neteller, Skrill, Bank Transfer, and several other withdrawal options are supported.

• Claiming prize process –Claiming your prize is easy. You must verify your identity by providing support documents, and the winnings will be transferred to you.

• Game choices  –Jackpot.com offers 30+ lotteries from around the world.

Giant Lottos is a top-quality lottery ticket-purchasing service website that lets you buy tickets for lotteries worldwide, even though you are based in South Africa. This website is a great option for South African players and is, in fact, even available in Afrikaans. They offer secure payment and withdrawal options and let you play all the world's top lotteries. You also can ‘bulk-buy’ and play several lottery draws simultaneously.

• Reliability & Safety –Giant Lottos has a secured and encrypted connection through SSL encryption technology. Cloudflare, a well-known and leading cybersecurity firm, provides the SSL service.

• Odds –The odds offered for any lottery prize are the same as the official odds offered by the lottery operators. You can improve the odds by playing syndicates or using known lottery strategies.

• Size of the jackpot – Giant Lottos offers jackpots that are truly giant. The largest jackpot lotteries, such as Mega Millions, Euro Millions, and the US Powerball, are among the lotteries covered on this website.

• Speed of payouts –The payout speed will depend on the banking method used.

• Claiming prize process –Giant Lottos will notify you if you win, and they will also claim the prize on your behalf. Claiming the prize is easy; you need to complete security verification procedures.

• Game choices–12 lotteries are offered at Giant Lottos.

Lotto Send is yet another top-quality online lottery option for South African players. This online lottery ticket purchasing website offers 16 licensed lotteries and a myriad of promotions and bonuses to keep their players engaged and excited. Customer support can be reached via telephone, which is always reassuring. The FAQ section is detailed and provides all the resolutions to players' most common questions.

• Reliability & Safety –Lotto Send is a safe platform that uses SSL encryption. It is certified by Norton, McAffee, GeoTrust, and Comodo.

• Odds –The odds can be increased using the group play feature available at Lotto Send.

• Size of the jackpot – The biggest jackpots offered at Lotto Send include Mega Millions, US Powerball, Euro Millions, and Italy SuperEnalotto.

• Speed of payouts –The payout speed depends on the withdrawal method used. Credit card payouts are processed in 3-5 business days, but e–wallet payouts are processed within 72 hours.

• Claiming prize process– Winnings are deposited to your Lotto Send account immediately. You may withdraw the winnings using your preferred banking method or use them to fund further play.

• Game choices – You can play 16+ lotteries from around the world.

The current games available through the South African National Lottery are:

• Lotto

• Lotto Plus 1

• Lotto Plus 2

• PowerBall

• Daily Lotto SA National Lottery

• SPORTSTAKE 13

• EAZiWIN

About the ITHUBA National lottery 

ITHUBA Holdings is the company that operates the South African National Lottery games. The license to operate national lottery games was issued to ITHUBA in 2015. The regulator of the national lottery is an authoritative state organization called the National Lottery Commission, founded in 2000.

To play any of the National Lottery games, players need to be at least 18 years or older. Tickets may only be purchased at approved retailers and other authorized partners. Currently, there are 8 lottery games that the ITHUBA National Lottery operates. They are –  National lotteries Lotto & Lotto Plus 1, Lotto Plus 2, PowerBall, Daily Lotto, SPORTSTAKE 13, and EAZiWIN. The following games are no longer continued – Wina Manje, Raffle, and Pick 3.

Some of the biggest jackpots awarded by the ITHUBA National Lottery of South Africa include the top three below.

R232,131,750 – won playing the game PowerBall in draw number 965 by a sole winner, a man who was in his 50s

R153,466,150 – won playing the game PowerBall Plus in draw number 1110 by a sole winner, a man who remained anonymous and was not a regular player of lottery games

R145,469,799 –won playing the game PowerBall in draw number 908 by a sole winner, a 34 – year old man

The first woman to win a lottery jackpot of over 100 million was awarded to a 35-year-old lady in 2020. She won while playing PowerBall, and the jackpot awarded was R114,242,816.

Lottery Games in South Africa

• Lotto: You must pick six numbers and buy a ticket to enter the draw. The numbers need to be picked from a range of 1 – 52. You are eligible for a prize if you match at least three numbers. You need to match all six numbers to win the jackpot. Find out if you won by consulting our latest daily lotto results.

• Lotto Plus 1: Lotto Plus one works in the same way as Lotto, but the difference is that the players get one more chance to win. The Lotto Plus 1 ticket costs R2.50 extra. Draws are conducted on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Get the latest results for Lotto & Lotto Plus.

• Lotto Plus 2: Along the same lines of how Lotto Plus 1 gives a player a second chance to win, Lotto Plus 2 gives a player a third chance to win. It costs an additional R2.50 per board.

• PowerBall: The player picks five main numbers from 1 to 50 and one Powerball number from 1 to 20. The entry costs R5 per board. The top price is reserved for matching all five main numbers and the Powerball number.

• PowerBall Plus: PowerBall Plus is to PowerBall what Lotto Plus is to Lotto. If you buy the PowerBall Plus entry at an additional R2.50, you get a second chance to win the PowerBall.

• Daily Lotto: The name gives it away. This is a lottery game where the draw takes place every night at 21:00 Central African Time. Players need to choose five different numbers from 1 – 36. If no ticket matches all five numbers, the jackpot prize is given to the ticket or tickets that match the first four numbers.

• SPORTSTAKE 13: This is a different lottery game offered by the South African National Lottery compared to the rest. The main difference is that you don’t have to pick numbers and see if you matched them. Instead, you will be predicting the results of 13 sporting fixtures. The National Lottery decides the specific fixtures, usually from English and other professional soccer leagues. You may select single or multiple predictions for each fixture. Your choices are home win, draw or away win. The jackpot is awarded if you match all 13 results, but there are prizes for matching 12, 11, and 10 out of the 13 results. The odds of the matching 13 are 1 in 1,593,323

• EAZiWIN: Apart from tickets for lottery draw games, the National Lottery also offers instant win scratch cards, which are not physical or tangible, but digital. The card is compared with a slip. The names of the games are Popa Feela, 4 Siya Wina, Fafi Fortune, and Morabaraba. The first two games cost R3 per card and the latter cost R5 per card. For the R3 Cards, you can win a prize of up to R30,000; for the R5 card, you can win a max prize of up to R100,000.

South African players and players of other nationalities based in South Africa are not confined to only playing games operated by the ITHUBA National Lottery. South African players can safely and legally participate in lotteries from various other countries and play games that simulate the lottery such as lotto mania slots.

In fact, a South African player does not even have to visit the home country of the lottery to partake in the lottery. For instance, if you want to play popular international lotteries like the Italian SuperEnalotto, you can play from South Africa even if you’ve never set foot in Italy.

You can do so through online lottery service websites if you are interested in playing incredibly huge lotteries such as Mega Millions, Powerball, SuperEnalotto, and EuroMillions. We have already provided you with a list of our top recommended online lottery service websites. Using such online platforms, players can make their lottery number selections, pay for the ticket entry online and purchase their tickets.

The way it works is simple – you pick a lottery to play, choose the required numbers and pay for the ticket online. Once your payment is confirmed, a land-based agent in the home country of the lottery you are playing will buy the ticket as specified and send you a scanned copy. Through such online lottery websites, you can view draw results, play through the syndicate option, and much more. In the event that your ticket wins, you will be notified, and the online lottery service will even help you successfully claim the winnings.

Some of the most popular international lotteries that South African players can play are:

US Mega Millions: Mega Millions is an American lottery game that offers one of the biggest jackpots among lotteries worldwide. The highest-ever jackpot paid through this lottery game was $1.537 billion. The draw happens twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The draw is telecasted live on a few American cable tv channels. For every entry you make, you need to pick six numbers from two separate pool numbers. Among the six should be five picks between 1 and 70 and one pick between 1 and 25. There are 9 different prizes, including the jackpot for matching all six.

SuperEnalotto

The SuperEnalotto is one of the world’s most lucrative lottery jackpots, and it takes place in Italy. You don’t have to be in Italy to participate. South African players are welcome to use online services to play the SuperEnalotto. The minimum guaranteed jackpot for every draw of the SuperEnalotto is €2 million. To play the SuperEnalotto, you must buy a ticket on which you must pick six main numbers between 1 and 90. To play the SuperStar version, you must pick an additional SuperStart number between 1 and 90. For every entry purchased, the player also gets an automatic chance to win an Instant Win prize unrelated to the numbers picked in the draw.

EuroMillions

The EuroMillions draw happens two times a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The EuroMillions jackpot can reach a value of up to €190 million consistently. The first EuroMillions draw took place in 2004. The draw happens in Spain, and players from all over Europe and other parts of the world, including South Africa, are welcome to participate. For every entry ticket, you need to choose 5 numbers between 1 and 50 and 2 numbers between 1 and 12. If you match all 7, you win the grand jackpot.

Italy EuroJackpot

The Italy EuroJackpot is among the 18 lottery games that make up the EuroJackpot, a transactional European Lottery that began in 2012. The other participating countries include Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. To win the Jackpot, you will need to match 5 main numbers between 1 to 50 and another 2 special numbers between the range of 1 to 10. The draw occurs once a week in Helsinki at 21:00 local time.

The EuroJackpot pays out at a higher rate when compared to other European lotteries such as EuroMillions or the German Lotto. The odds of winning the jackpot in the EuroJackpot is 1 in 95 million, which is better than 1 in 139 million for EuroMillions or German Lotto. The biggest jackpot paid out courtesy of the EuroJackpot was €90,000,000 to a player based in Finland in August 2019. The biggest winner out of Italy recorded thus far was a win in May of 2020 which was worth €33,290,606. The EuroJackpot was formed to compete with the EuroMillions by matching the jackpot value; the idea was that the EuroJackpot value would give EuroMillions a run for its money, considering the EuroJackpot would have a pool sourced from several participating countries.

German Lotto

Along with EuroMillions, EuroJackpot, and ItaltySuperEnalotto, the German Lotto is one of the largest lotteries in Europe and the world. One of the main attraction points of the German Lotto is its remarkably low price per line. Lotteries are usually inexpensive, but the German Lotto is one of the most affordable. Given the low price, the German Lotto has a huge number of players that play every draw since the loss incurred is not substantial compared to the potential reward they could get.

Apart from the top jackpot, the German Lotto offers ten prizes and three other bonus games. The local name for the German Lotto is 6 aus 49, which translates to six out of 49. As this name suggests, pick six numbers from 1 – 49. The jackpot-winning ticket is one which matches all six numbers and also the additional Superball number.

A single line entry costs as little as €1.20, and the DoubleJackpot option costs an additional €1. The additional bonus games can be played at additional costs. The bonus games are called Spiel77, Super6 andGlücksSpirale.

The minimum jackpot is guaranteed at €1 million. However, you can rest assured that it usually pays much higher than that. There is no cap on the max jackpot amount. The record for the highest jackpot paid out is €45.4 million. A huge perk of playing the German Lotto is that the winnings are not subject to any tax at all. All prizes are completely tax-free.

US Powerball

The US Powerball is a very popular lottery not just in the US but also in various other parts of the world, including South Africa. One of the main reasons for its popularity can be attributed to the fact that the US Powerball is credited with having paid out the biggest-ever jackpot in the history of lotteries. This jackpot was of $1.586 billion and was won on 13^th January 2016.

It was in April of 1992 that LottoAmerica was rebranded as the US Powerball. Along with the rebranding, the gameplay mechanism was also revolutionized, becoming the gold standard for American lotteries as we advanced. Until the US Powerball did it in 1992, all lotteries only used one drum to draw numbers from. The US Powerball unveiled the second drum for the first time in 1992, and it has now been adopted by most of the top lotteries worldwide.

The ticket costs $2 per play. Players can make an entry by choosing five main numbers from a range of 1 to 69 and 1 special number called the Powerball between the range of 1 to 26. This Powerball number is what is drawn from the second drum. To win the top prize, a ticket must match all five numbers and the Powerball number. There are also eight other prizes up for grabs apart from the grand prize. The odds of winning the Grand Prize are 1 in 292,201,338. The draw takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays every week at the Florida Lottery’s Tallahassee studio at 10:59 pm easter time on the dot.

Some of the biggest recorded US Powerball Jackpots are a win of $1.6 billion in January of 2016 (the highest ever jackpot win recorded for any lottery in the world), a win of $758.7 million in August of 2017, and a win of $687.8 million in October of 2018.

Depending on where you live, winning the US Powerball could attract taxation from the Federal government and the State Government. Winnings can be accepted as a single lump-sum cash payment or through an annuity option paid out annually over a period of 30 years.

Verifying the Facts

We believe in providing our readers with reliable information. Our team has carefully verified all facts against credible sources to ensure the highest level of accuracy. Your confidence in our content is our priority.

Ithuba National Lottery

National Lotteries Commission of South Africa

World Lottery Association

Free State Gambling and Liquor Authority (FSGLA)

Mpumalanga Economic Regulator

Eastern Cape Gambling Board