2026 South Africa Lottery Changes

A host of changes took effect at the start of June 2026 across South Africa’s full range of lottery games. These updates were made to coincide with Sizekhaya Holdings becoming the new operator of the ZA National Lottery. Find an overview of what has changed below, and go to the individual game pages for more information.

PowerBall

PowerBall fans will be delighted that the odds of winning are now better than before! You must still choose five main numbers from 1 to 50, but the number range for the PowerBall has been reduced from 20 to 16 – leading to a better chance of landing a prize.

The PowerBall Plus add-on game has been rebranded as PowerBall XTRA and will work largely in the same way as the main draw, but there is a new ‘Jackpot Cascade’ feature. If nobody matches all five numbers and the PowerBall in the final draw of a calendar month, the jackpot money will be split between winners in Division 2. If there are no winners in Division 2, the jackpot will cascade to Division 3.

Here are a few of other changes to Powerball:

Ticket cost has now increased to R10 for the main draw, and R5 for PowerBall XTRA.
New Multi-Play option allows you to pick one or two extra numbers. Every possible 5/50 + 1/16 combination of all your selected numbers will then be automatically entered into the draw.
There are still nine prize tiers, now with six fixed-prize levels below the top three divisions.

Lotto

Just like PowerBall, the odds of winning the Lotto jackpot have improved under the revamped rules – going from 1 in 40,475,358 to 1 in 20,358,520. This is because the number range has changed from 6/58 to 6/52. There are now five fixed-prize levels below the top three divisions.

You can still enter Lotto Plus 1 on top of Lotto, while Lotto Plus 2 has been renamed Lotto 5 Max. Six main numbers and a Bonus Ball are drawn in each game as before, but Lotto 5 Max now has a similar ‘Jackpot Cascade’ feature to PowerBall XTRA. The last draw of every month is guaranteed to be won, and if no tickets match all the numbers the jackpot will roll down to winners in Division 2 (or Division 3 if required). Other points to note are shown below:

Cost to play is the same (R5 for Lotto, R2.50 for Plus 1, R2.50 for Lotto 5 Max).
Multi-Play allows you to select additional numbers beyond the standard six, creating more combinations and increasing the chances of winning. The cost increases proportionally for each combination.

Daily Lotto

Daily Lotto is still played in the same way as it was pre-June 2026, but the big change is that Daily Lotto Plus is no longer available. The cost to play is still R3 and you still pick five numbers from 1-36.

The percentage of the prize fund going to each tier has also been adjusted, with 35 percent going to the top division for those players who match all five numbers.

Sportstake Becomes Matchplay

Sportstake has been a firm favourite with soccer fans for several years, giving players the chance to predict the outcome of upcoming fixtures from around the world. There have been a few different versions of Sportstake – 4, 8, 13, Cricket and Rugby – but a series of changes have now been implemented to freshen it up. The new format is known as Matchplay, and here are the highlights.

Matchplay 8 – The new name for Sportstake 8. The game works the same way, so you win for getting 13 or more correct predictions out of 16 (first-half and second-half outcomes for eight matches).
Matchplay 13 – Replaces Sportstake 13. Predict the full-time result of 13 soccer matches.
Matchplay 14 – A new game where you predict the outcome of 14 soccer matches. Prizes are available for getting 11 or more correct.
Matchplay 14 Omnisports – This new game will work the same way as Matchplay 14, but instead of betting on soccer fixtures you will be predicting sports such as rugby, cricket, tennis, basketball, hockey and athletics.
Matchplay 9/14 – Choose nine fixtures to bet on from a possible 14. Win by predicting eight or nine outcomes correctly.
Sportstake 4, Sportstake Cricket and Sportstake Rugby are no longer available. These play styles have essentially been integrated into the new games (for example Matchplay 14 Omnisports).