Why these winning lotto numbers have sparked outrage

Outrage is brewing after a lotto draw saw 20 people win equal shares in the winning prize igniting speculation the game was “rigged”.

South Africa’s latest PowerBall draw produced an almost unbelievable result with the numbers 5 to 9 being drawn in order, and 10 being the PowerBall.

Surprisingly the lottery company announced on Twitter 20 winners had just become multimillionaires, each winning more than five million South African rand.

The winning amount is equal to about A$500,000, with an additional 79 people winning just over 6000 rand, equivalent to about $550, for guessing some numbers correctly.

All winning players selected their numbers manually, the lotto organiser later added to its tweet.

Following the social media post, many South Africans replied accusing the lottery of operating a fraudulent system.

“Why suddenly yesterday 20 people won but all along for the past 20 yrs only 1 or 2 people won the jackpot. This company is scamming people,” one person replied.

“Twenty winners! This is ludicrous,” another said.

The event caught the attention of the National Lotteries Commission, which issued a statement on the apparent coincidence following the draw.

“This occurrence, while uncommon, is not impossible, with the odds of any set of numbers selected for PowerBall being one in 42 million,” the statement read.

The commission said lotteries were subject to a “rigorous process of review prior to approval” to ensure they were “conducted with integrity”.

Despite the game coming under heavy scrutiny due to the bizarre number combination, it assured players there was no reason to doubt its legitimacy.

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