South African Lottery Changes 2026

Sizekhaya Holdings took over the South African National Lottery from Ithuba Holdings on 1 June 2026. Two games were renamed, the rest carried on, and every draw since the handover appears on this site.

Is Ithuba still running the lottery?

No. Ithuba Holdings ran the National Lottery for more than a decade, and its run ended in May 2026. If you are still searching for Ithuba results, what you are looking for is now published under Sizekhaya, and the numbers themselves are unchanged in format and still drawn at 21:00.

Ithuba draws that happened before 1 June 2026 are still part of the historical record, and older results remain valid for checking an old ticket within the operator's claim period.

Who is Sizekhaya Holdings?

Sizekhaya Holdings is the consortium that won the licence to run the National Lottery for eight years. It is chaired by KwaZulu-Natal businessman Moses Tembe and includes AmaZulu FC owner Sandile Zungu. It began operating the lottery on 1 June 2026.

The award of the licence is being contested in court, with the main application expected to be heard in the second half of 2026. That dispute has not interrupted draws or payouts.

The two games that were renamed

If you have been searching for PowerBall Plus results or Lotto Plus 2 results and finding nothing recent, that is why. The replacements draw on the same nights, at the same time, as part of the same ticket.

Lotto 5 Max draws six numbers, not five

The name misleads almost everyone the first time. Despite the "5" in the title, Lotto 5 Max draws six main numbers plus a bonus ball, the same as Lotto and Lotto Plus 1. Our own record of every Lotto 5 Max draw since launch confirms six numbers every time. If you are counting five numbers on your ticket and wondering what you have missed, you have not missed anything.

Lotto's number range shrank from 58 to 52

This is the change most people miss, and it matters if you play the same numbers every week. Lotto and Lotto Plus 1 used to draw from 1 to 58. Since 1 June 2026 they draw from 1 to 52.

We can confirm it from our own records rather than taking anyone's word for it: the last Lotto draw to produce a number above 52 was 30 May 2026, and no draw since the handover has exceeded 52. If your usual numbers include anything from 53 to 58, those numbers no longer exist on the board and a ticket cannot be filled in with them.

Fewer numbers means better odds. There are 40,475,358 ways to choose six numbers from 58 and 20,358,520 ways to choose six from 52, so the jackpot went from 1 in 40,475,358 to 1 in 20,358,520. That makes it almost exactly twice as likely, which is a real improvement even if both numbers remain enormous. Every division below the jackpot improved too, and the current figures are on the Lotto payouts and odds page.

PowerBall was not affected. It still draws five numbers from 1 to 50 plus a PowerBall from 1 to 20, and Daily Lotto still draws five from 1 to 36.

Games that carried on as before

• Lotto and Lotto Plus 1, Wednesday and Saturday, six numbers plus a bonus ball. Same name and same draw nights, but from a smaller pool, as above
• PowerBall, Tuesday and Friday, five numbers from 1 to 50 plus the PowerBall
• Daily Lotto, every night, five numbers from 1 to 36 and no bonus ball

What it means for your ticket

Nothing about how you play changed. Tickets are bought from the same retailers, draws are at 21:00, and prize divisions still work the same way. The only practical difference is that two games answer to different names, so a ticket bought under the old naming still corresponds to a draw you can look up here.

You can check any ticket against the latest draw, or see what every jackpot currently stands at.