South Africa Has a New National Lottery. Sizekhaya Is Live.

Published 2 June 2026

The wait is over. After months of anticipation, court challenges, and a transition that Betline has tracked closely since the licence was awarded, Sizekhaya Holdings officially took over as the operator of the South African National Lottery on 1 June 2026. The National Lottery website is new, the games have been updated, live televised draws and scratch cards have returned, and E-Instant games have been introduced for the first time. Betline reviewed the new platform on launch day and this is everything South African players need to know.

South Africa woke up to a new lottery on Monday, 1 June 2026.

After eleven years under Ithuba Holdings, the National Lottery passed to Sizekhaya Holdings. Betline covered the full background in its article on the Sizekhaya National Lottery takeover. The handover became official the moment the last Ithuba draws closed on 30 and 31 May. From 1 June, Sizekhaya is running the show.

This is not a small update. Betline’s review of the new lottery shows that Sizekhaya has built an entirely new system from scratch, working with international lottery technology provider Genlot. Every terminal running on the old Ithuba system was switched off. A new website and updated games all went live on the same day. Live televised draws have returned after years of computerised results, scratch cards are back at retail, and E-Instant online games have been introduced to the National Lottery for the first time.

New Lotto Website

The new Sizekhaya lottery website is a modern, easy to use experience that puts everything a player needs front and centre. Next draws, live countdown timers, and current jackpot amounts are visible the moment you land on the site, alongside a refreshed selection of games and formats that goes well beyond what Ithuba Holdings offered. It works just as well on mobile as it does on desktop, and the layout makes it immediately clear.

What Lotto Games Have Changed

The main draw games are all still available, but some names have changed and some games have been replaced entirely. Here is the full picture, game by game.

Lotto draws twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday at 21:00. You pick six numbers from 1 to 52, down from the previous range of 1 to 58, and a bonus ball is drawn separately to determine the smaller prizes. A standard Lotto board costs R5 inclusive of VAT. There is also a new Multiplay option called MP1, which lets you add a seventh number to your selection for seven times the ticket price. That extra number creates additional winning combinations across your board, effectively giving you more ways to win from a single ticket.

Lotto Plus 1 runs alongside the main Lotto draw and costs R2.50 per board. The number range follows the same change as Lotto, now 1 to 52.

Lotto 5 Max replaces Lotto Plus 2, also at R2.50 per board, with its own separate prize pool. The number range is the same as Lotto, 1 to 52.

Daily Lotto draws every single night at 21:00, giving players a quick option seven days a week. You pick five numbers from 1 to 36, and a board costs R3 inclusive of VAT. A new Multiplay option called MP1 lets you add a sixth number to your selection at six times the ticket price, creating more winning combinations across your board from a single entry. Daily Lotto Plus has been discontinued with no replacement.

Powerball draws twice a week on Tuesday and Friday at 21:00. You pick five numbers from 1 to 50 and one Powerball number from 1 to 16, reduced from the previous range of 1 to 20. A standard board costs R10 inclusive of VAT. A new Multiplay option called MP1 lets you add a sixth main number to your selection at six times the ticket price, giving your board more combinations to match against the draw without needing to buy an entirely separate ticket.

Powerball Xtra replaces Powerball Plus and costs R5 per board on top of your Powerball ticket. Sizekhaya has given it a new name to signal that it stands on its own, not just as an add-on.

The number ranges across all games have changed from what players were used to under Ithuba Holdings. If you use any app or website to pick or check your numbers, make sure it has been updated.

Live Draws Are Back on TV

This is the news that has had lottery players excited for months, and it is now real.

Sizekhaya has brought back live, televised draws. While Ithuba Holdings continued to conduct official lottery draws throughout its licence period, live televised ball draws were no longer a regular feature. Sizekhaya has brought them back using physical draw machines, with every draw conducted on camera in front of an independent adjudicator, exactly the way older players will remember from years gone by.

Lotto draws on Wednesday and Saturday, and Powerball draws on Tuesday and Friday. Sizekhaya has confirmed the return of live draws, which will be broadcast on television at 21:00 on draw nights.

For anyone who has ever wondered whether lottery results are truly random, a live draw on camera is the most straightforward answer possible. Sizekhaya has made this a central part of how it wants South Africans to think about the new lottery, and Betline thinks it is the right call.

Daily Lotto is the exception. It still uses a computer-generated draw, which makes sense given that it runs every single day and would not be practical to stage live.

Draws happen at 21:00. Ticket sales close at 20:40 on draw days for Lotto, Powerball, and Daily Lotto. Betline’s lotto results page publishes results as soon as they are confirmed.

Scratch Cards Are Back

Scratch cards are back as a proper product under Sizekhaya, available at shops across the country.

The new website lists them by price. For R5, you can buy 5X The Money (top prize R50,000), African Dream (top prize R100,000), or Igolide (top prize R10,000). At R10, African Royals (top prize R500,000) and Kasi Kings (top prize R200,000) are available.

Scratch cards give you an answer on the spot without waiting for a draw, which makes them popular with casual players and people who want a quick result at the till. Betline will cover the full scratch card range in more detail as it expands.

New E-Instant Games: Play Online and Win Instantly

The new Sizekhaya National Lottery website now has E-Instant games available, which allows signed up users to play instant games online.

Games available at launch include Crazy Mole, where you match three identical coins to win with a top prize of R1 million; Ninja, where you throw daggers at fruit for prizes and can enter an extended Infinite Mode, with a top prize of R500,000; Goal of Glory, a football game where you win if the home team wins, with a top prize of R40,000; and Jungle Treasures, where you match three symbols across seven lines to win, with a top prize of R100,000.

You need an account and money in your wallet to play, and your result comes through immediately.

Matchplay: The Football Lottery

Matchplay is the National Lottery’s football prediction game and it continues under Sizekhaya alongside the draw games. Instead of picking numbers, you predict the outcomes of selected football matches, choosing a home win, a draw, or an away win for each fixture. Predictions cover both the first half and second half result of each match separately, so each game requires two calls.

There are four Matchplay formats available: Matchplay 8, Matchplay 13, Matchplay 14, Matchplay 14 Omnisports, and Matchplay 9/14, each based on a different number of fixtures. The more correct predictions you get, the higher your prize. Getting all 16 predictions right across an eight-match coupon puts you in line for the top prize pool. A single board costs R2.00 inclusive of VAT, and a Quick Pick option is available if you want the system to randomly generate your predictions.

How to Sign Up and Start Playing

To play online with Sizekhaya you need to register. South African law requires your full name, a valid South African ID number, and a local mobile number. You also need to be 18 or older to play anything on the National Lottery.

Once your account is set up, you add money to your wallet in rands. The minimum deposit is R2.00. You can pay by Instant EFT, Visa or Mastercard, or with retail vouchers like OTT Voucher and 1Voucher if you prefer to pay with cash at a shop first.

Small winnings up to R2,000 go straight back into your wallet. If you win more than R50,000, you will need to visit a National Lottery office in person to collect. You have 365 days from the draw date to claim any prize.

If you had an account with the old operator: That account is now closed. Your balance could not be carried across to Sizekhaya because of data protection rules. If you had money in your old account that you did not withdraw before 31 May, you will need to contact Ithuba directly. For Sizekhaya, you will need to register a new account from scratch.

What Sizekhaya Is Trying to Be

Sizekhaya has been clear about what it wants the National Lottery to stand for. On its website, it describes the lottery as a national treasure, not just a product, and talks about its responsibility to players, retailers, and the communities that benefit from lottery funding.

Its stated goals are to make playing simpler and more accessible for ordinary South Africans, to give retailers better tools and better earnings, to run things more transparently, and to make sure lottery money goes further for the people who need it.

The values it has committed to are Innovation, Integrity, and Impact. Betline will be watching closely to see whether the day-to-day experience of playing under Sizekhaya lives up to those words. The company is based at 36 Homestead Road, Edenburg, Sandton. You can reach the call centre on 086 102 6000 or by email at info@sizekhaya.co.za.

What Happens This Week

The platform is live and the first draws under Sizekhaya are underway. Betline will continue covering the rollout as the new games, live draws, and updated number ranges bed in. For the latest results, visit Betline’s lotto results page.

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