POWERBALL WINDFALL

SINGLE MOTHER WINS R70M

A PRETORIA domestic worker has become the latest millionaire, scooping just over R70 million in last week’s Powerball Plus draw.

The single mother of one, played the winning ticket at her local Shell Garage and spent only R7.50 using the manual selection method which resulted in her R70 873 741.30 cash prize. She initially thought only four numbers that she played had won.

It was only after she told her employer that she had won with four numbers that her employer made her aware that she had in fact won the big jackpot. She says she immediately rushed back to the Shell Garage where the cashier advised her to write her name and ID number on the back of her winning ticket and go to the offices of Ithuba to claim her winnings.

Sharing her life story, the woman said she was drowning in debt as she is the sole breadwinner in her household.

The night before the draw, she put her ticket in the Bible a friend had given her and prayed to God to give her a sign that soon all her troubles will be over.

She said she could not sleep that night and she woke up again at 3am to ask God to bless her and her family with good fortune.

The winner has already resigned from her job as a domestic worker of over 30 years, and plans to use her winnings towards renovating the family house she shares with her daughter, grandchild and younger brother.

She also plans to help her daughter with her tertiary fees so that she can be the first in their family to get a tertiary qualification. She is also planning to buy a five-bedroom house in one of Pretoria’s leafy suburbs, take her family to Cape Town for the holidays and buy a smartphone.

“Our winners come from all walks of life and are spread out across all provinces. This is precisely what Ithuba set out to do when we were granted the licence to operate the National Lottery in 2015. We also promised to deliver bigger jackpots and we have done precisely that,” said Khensani Mabuza, corporate relations executive at Ithuba.

Asked how she picked her winning numbers, the woman said she always plays the same numbers but sometimes picks numbers that are popular and drawn often.

The winner plans to invest most of her winnings and live off the interest from her investments. |