South Africa’s R41 million Lotto jackpot winner says system glitch cost him millions

For most South Africans, hitting the Lotto jackpot represents the ultimate dream: financial freedom overnight. But for one Johannesburg man, that dream became a nightmare.

Three years after selecting all six winning numbers in the National Lottery draw, Thabiso Bannister is still fighting to prove he should have walked away with R17 million. Instead, he alleges a system error robbed him of the prize that could have changed his life.

The winning numbers that vanished

On 2 March 2022, Bannister placed what he believed was a valid R50 bet through World Sports Betting (WSB). Early the next morning, he checked the results — and was elated to see that every number he’d chosen matched the official Lotto draw.

But when he tried to open his ticket through WSB’s online lottery tab, it was missing. What should have been his moment of triumph instead triggered panic.

“I didn’t know if it was fake or if something went wrong with the purchase,” he recalls. “Obviously there was panic.”

He says staff at WSB initially confirmed that a ticket had been placed. Later, however, the company disputed his claim, insisting no valid entry existed.

Investigations and finger-pointing

The saga quickly escalated into an official dispute. Both the Gauteng Gambling Board and the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) investigated the matter.

The Gambling Board’s findings pointed to a communication failure between WSB’s platform and Ithuba’s central lottery system. According to its correspondence, Bannister’s ticket “failed to register on Ithuba’s server” due to a timeout error.

But Ithuba flatly denied any glitch. The operator stated its systems showed no sign of failure and that other players’ bets had been processed successfully at the same time.

For Bannister, the contradiction only deepened the mystery — and his frustration.

Read also: Are the viral lottery rigging claims true? Here’s Ithuba’s response

The missing ticket trail

At the heart of the dispute lies a digital paper trail — or the lack thereof.

• Bannister says he has screenshots, emails, and transaction records proving that his R50 wager was processed.
• He insists a reference number was generated, which should serve as proof of purchase.
• He even conducted a “test bet” two months later using the same method, which was processed successfully.

But WSB maintains there was no record of a ticket. Its terms and conditions state that a wager is not valid unless the system issues a coupon confirming the bet. The company argued that since Bannister could not produce such confirmation, the bet never existed.

The NLC’s report backed this stance, saying that while successful transactions were logged, WSB does not keep records of failed ones. Bannister’s entry, they concluded, fell into the “unsuccessful” category.

Claims of deletion and a disputed refund

Bannister alleges his betting history was tampered with during the inquiry. He claims WSB temporarily removed his play records, and that he later received a suspicious R50 “refund” from individuals he believes manually processed the transaction.

The NLC confirmed his betting history was temporarily removed during the investigation, but stated it was later reinstated.

For Bannister, this only raised further suspicions.

Legal hurdles and personal toll

Desperate to fight his case, Bannister attempted to secure legal representation through a contingency arrangement: a lawyer would receive half the winnings if successful. But when the lawyer left the firm, the case stalled.

With no legal breakthrough, Bannister has been left emotionally drained and financially stretched. Already struggling due to the economic fallout of Covid-19, he says the unresolved battle has left him isolated.

“It took a mental toll on me because there was no way to fight them,” he says. “They promote gambling everywhere, but when something goes wrong, you have no protection.”

A broader warning for South African players

The dispute has raised uncomfortable questions about consumer protection in the gambling industry.

• What happens when technical failures occur?
• Should players be entitled to forensic IT investigations to prove disputed bets?
• And how can consumers trust platforms if transaction logs are incomplete?

As Bannister continues to demand justice, tonight’s PowerBall jackpot of R85 million looms as a reminder of what’s at stake for millions of hopeful players.

For Bannister, though, the lesson is bitter: sometimes the system doesn’t just fail — it can cost you everything.