SA Lotto Betting
SA Lotto is the home draw, and Scorebet lets you bet on it at fixed odds rather than buying an official ticket. The official game is run by Ithuba under licence from the National Lotteries Commission; what you’re doing here is placing a bet on its outcome, so your winnings come from the bookmaker at set odds instead of from a pooled jackpot. The headline difference from UK 49’s is the pool — SA Lotto draws six numbers from 1 to 52 plus a bonus ball, three extra balls that lengthen the odds a touch, with draws every Wednesday and Saturday at 20:56.
The interface mirrors the rest of Lucky Numbers, so the mechanics carry straight over. You pick 1 to 6 numbers from the 1–52 grid and choose your market — Main Set, Main Set + Bonus, Bonus Ball or the odd/even and high/low sides. A worked example from the app: the Wednesday draw produces 5, 12, 23, 35, 41, 49 + bonus 8, you’d backed 12, 35 and 41, and that three-number bet pays at 401x, turning R10 into R4,010.
The standout convenience is the calendar bar at the top of the draw page, which lets you pre-bet on upcoming Wednesday and Saturday dates rather than scrambling before close. To run the same numbers across SA Lotto Plus 1 and Plus 2 in one go, use multi pick; for a draw that comes round far more often, the hourly Russia Gosloto is the opposite tempo. The full walkthrough set lives on the Lucky Numbers how-to-play section, and the SA Lotto draw page covers the wider market detail.
Place it on Scorebet, step by step
- 1Navigate to SA Lotto
From Lucky Numbers, tap the Numbers tab, filter by the South Africa flag and tap SA Lotto — Today 20:56.
- 2Pick your numbers
Pick 1 to 6 numbers from the 1–52 grid. Use Hot (flame) or Cold (snowflake) filters for frequent or rare numbers.
- 3Choose your market
Like UK 49's, SA Lotto offers Main Set, Main Set + Bonus, Bonus Ball and Odd/Even & High/Low. Use Multi Pick to also cover SA Lotto Plus 1, Plus 2 and other SA draws.
- 4Add a date, then stake
Tap a future date (Wed, Sat) on the calendar bar to pre-bet, then Add To Betting Ticket with a minimum R1 stake.
Example: SA Lotto fixed odds (1–52 pool)
| Numbers matched | Approx. odds | Example (R10 stake) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 of 6 | 7x | R70 |
| 2 of 6 | 51x | R510 |
| 3 of 6 | 401x | R4,010 |
| 4 of 6 | 4,001x | R40,010 |
| 5 of 6 | 50,001x | R500,010 |
| Bonus Ball only | ~7x | R70 |
Pre-bet ahead: SA Lotto draws twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday). The calendar bar lets you place bets on future draw dates in advance, so plan rather than rush before close.
Bigger pool, longer odds: with 52 balls versus 49, the chance of matching shifts slightly against you compared with UK 49's, which is reflected in the prices.
Frequently asked
Is betting on SA Lotto the same as buying a ticket?
No. Scorebet offers fixed-odds betting on the official SA Lotto result, so you're not buying a National Lottery ticket from Ithuba. You place a bet on the outcome, and if your numbers come up the bookmaker pays you at set odds rather than from a pooled jackpot.
How big is the SA Lotto number pool?
SA Lotto draws six numbers from a pool of 1 to 52, plus one bonus ball. That's three more balls than UK 49's (1–49), so the pool is larger and the odds shift slightly. Draws take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 20:56.
If I bet SA Lotto here, can I also win the official Ithuba jackpot?
No — these are two separate things. A fixed-odds bet with the bookmaker pays you from the book at set odds and has nothing to do with the National Lottery prize pool. To be in the Ithuba jackpot you'd have to buy an official ticket; the bet only mirrors the drawn numbers, it doesn't enter you into the lottery itself.
Why cap fixed-odds payouts at five matched numbers when the draw has six?
Because the sixth ball pushes the odds into territory the bookmaker won't price for a small stake — matching all six from 52 is astronomically unlikely, and a fair multiplier would dwarf the operator's liability limits. So the fixed-odds market tops out at five, where the risk is still bookable. If you genuinely want the six-ball jackpot, that's the official Ithuba ticket, not a bet.