Persistence has paid off for a man in his 70s who has played PowerBall since it began, after he won a jackpot worth R100 million in the draw on Tuesday, 16 November.

It was the third-largest jackpot of the year after almost two months without a winner, and there was only one ticket that matched all the winning numbers – 8, 9, 36, 42 and 50, plus the PowerBall of 4.

The lucky entry was sold in Margate on the KZN South Coast, and National Lottery operator Ithuba immediately urged players in the area to check whether they had won.

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There was no news from the winner for almost a week, but the prize has now been claimed. The man was in a state of shock when he came forward, having only ever had small wins in the past.

He said: “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 to R60.”

The winner has been retired for 20 years, having stopped working as an engineer at the age of 52. He is now looking forward to an even brighter future, although he is not sure yet what he will do with the money.

He has no immediate plans for the Christmas period due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is also keen to get some financial advice from a private banker before doing too much.

“At the moment, only my daughter knows, and I told her to keep it quiet,” said the pensioner, who spent just R7.50 on his ticket.