Tebogo Monama

Tebogo Monama

Eighteen South Africans this weekend became instant millionaires after winning the national lotto, breaking the record of the highest number of winners in a single draw.

The previous record was 12 winners.

This is the highest number of millionaires in lotto history. The jackpot was R21,8 million.

This means that each of the 18 winners will get at least R1,2 million.

This weekend's winning numbers were 3, 13, 17, 28, 37, 49 and the bonus number 30. The slot machine was pushed by Sowetan news editor Willie Bokala.

Players have 365 days to claim their prize.

Gidani's spokesman Thembi Tulwana said: "This is very nice. We have never had so many winners before. This means that a lot of people played.

"When a lot of people play, there is a bigger chance of winning and [this] creates revenue for good causes. When you look at the numbers you can see that people placed their bets with their birth dates and they won."

Last December, 15 millionaires were created by Lotto and Lotto Plus, collectively winning more than R28million.

Of the 15 new millionaires, five are still to come forward to claim their fortune.