As the year nears an end and South African citizens in general start to get into the holiday spirit, it’s well worth a look at some success stories from around the country and, indeed, the world, over the past few months.
These frequently stem from people who have won the lottery in their own country or elsewhere around the globe. A quick check into South Africa, the United States, Europe and other lands yonder is well worth a go.
Most recently, a South African Powerball entrant won a whopping R100 million. The 72-year-old pensioner from KwaZulu-Natal, who was an engineer before retiring about 20 years ago, was delighted with his triumph.
“I was hoping to catch a big fish and instead caught a whale. I had been playing for almost 14 years now, every Tuesday and Friday, the most I would win was between R30 and R60,” he enthused.
That happened as recently as mid-November, this year. The prize was not as big as the R158 million won by a woman from North West a couple of months ago, though. She wanted part of her winnings to go toward travel plans for the coast at the time. Any why not – the Durban shoreline is lovely anytime of the year.
“I would love to travel to Durban, as I have never been there before and I have always wanted to go there for a family vacation at the seaside,” she said.
Over in the USA, in Manhattan to be more specific, someone won a hefty 432 million US dollars via the MegaMillions draw. The winning ticket was bought at a Pizza Pronto outlet and promptly landed among the biggest international lotteries results recorded. The identity of the fortunate winner might eventually come out and the pizza joint owner is pleased for whoever it is.
“People think this is the lucky store now. I hope I have more big winners. I don’t know who it is. We had a lot of people buying tickets. I hope they are one of my regular customers. They deserve it to win,” the New York Post quoted Pronto Pizza pioneer David Khirala as saying.
Very interestingly, the Irish lottery jackpot has not been won for about six months. That’s a lengthy period and the rollover is getting bigger and bigger.
“It’s the longest run in the history of the game. Punters might have a better chance of winning a Squid Game,” said Irish member of parliament Bernard Durkan.
Now there is a topical reference about the Netflix series if ever you’ll hear one. For a slightly longer trip down memory lane, it’s certainly worth rekindling a story out of Germany.
A three-year search ended for the winner of 11 million euros in 2021. The winner never came forward to claim his or her prize. For context, for South Africans, 11 million euros is the approximate equivalent of R195 million rand based on November this year’s exchange rate. That’s a very fat bank balance gone abegging, indeed. Wow.