If you bought a lottery ticket in Boksburg this year, you could be R13.8m richer

National lottery operator Ithuba is looking for the winner of an unclaimed R13.8m jackpot.  

Ithuba made the announcement on Monday, saying the ticket for the January 8 draw was bought at SuperSpar at Atlas Mall in Boksburg, on the East Rand.

“The winner, who is not known to Ithuba, spent R20 on the winning ticket, using a quick-pick selection method. The winning numbers are: 14, 19, 21, 43, 45, 50, and the bonus ball is 37,” said Ithuba. 

“We hope that the winner will make contact with us soon. We encourage all players, especially players from the east of Johannesburg who recently visited the Atlas Mall, to check their tickets,” said Busisiwe Msizi, head of corporate relations at Ithuba.

Msizi said the ticket would have to be validated, after which the winner would be given free counselling and financial advice.

“Becoming an overnight millionaire can be an overwhelming experience for anyone. Our priority is to help the winner digest the news and enjoy every step of this life-changing win,” she said.

Msizi said financial advice sessions were to ensure winners became financially educated and secure, even years later. 

She added that this was to avoid situations where winners blew their winnings in a short time.

“Like the rest of the country, we were shocked to learn about a R14m jackpot winner on a popular television show who lost all her winnings within months. This was just before we took over as the new operator in June 2015. It is for this reason that we are adamant about offering all our winners of R50,000 and above financial advice and trauma counselling” said Msizi.