‘Unlucky Number 13’ Emerges As SA’s Most-Drawn PowerBall Number As Jackpot Hits R80m
- Number 13 has been drawn 106 times in PowerBall since June 2018, making it the most common main number across 861 draws
- The R80 million jackpot has gone unclaimed for 10 consecutive draws after the last winner scooped R93.5 million in Soweto
- A recent change to the game cut the PowerBall range and raised the line price from R5 to R10, shifting the odds for players
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South Africa's PowerBall jackpot has climbed to an estimated R80 million ahead of Tuesday's draw, and a fresh data analysis has revealed that the so-called unlucky number 13 is the most frequently drawn main number in the game's history.
According to an analysis of all 861 draws by data experts at playcasino.com, number 13 has appeared 106 times since the main number range extended to 50 in June 2018. It is also the standout number of 2026 so far, coming up 13 times across 77 draws this year.
SA's most drawn PowerBall numbers
The full top seven since June 2018 are: 13 (106 times), 15 (103 times), 24 (102 times), 38 (101 times), and 3, 20 and 49 (99 times each). At the other end of the scale, number 1 has been drawn just 64 times overall and has not appeared once since the game's revamp in June 2026. Number 35 has gone even longer without being picked, absent for 42 consecutive draws since 1 May.
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If every number came up with equal frequency, each would have been drawn roughly 86 times, making 13's tally notably high.
On the PowerBall itself, number 2 leads with 57 appearances since 2018, though it has not featured in any of the 34 draws since the PowerBall range was trimmed from 1–20 to 1–16 in June. PowerBall 8 has been missing even longer, last drawn on 9 December last year across 83 draws.
R80 million jackpot after 10 missed draws
The jackpot has gone unclaimed through 10 consecutive draws. It was last won on 21 August, when a single ticket purchased in Molapo, Soweto, banked R93.5 million. Before that, a R10 ticket from Pick n Pay in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, won R69.5 million on 3 July, and the very first draw of the revamped game on 2 June produced a R128.6 million winner from KwaZulu-Natal. The largest PowerBall prize in South African history remains R232 million, claimed by a single ticket bought in Tygerdal, Cape Town, in February 2019.
June's overhaul also raised the price of a single line from R5 to R10. The odds of winning the jackpot improved from 1 in 42,375,200 to 1 in 33,900,160 per line, though because R10 previously bought two lines, each rand now stretches less far in terms of jackpot chances.
Playcasino.com's data team offered a word of caution alongside the figures:
"It's funny that 'unlucky' 13 is the number that keeps turning up. But none of this tells you what will come out on Tuesday. The balls don't remember previous draws, so every number has the same chance, and every R10 line has the same 1 in 33,900,160 chance of winning the jackpot. If you do play, keep it as a bit of fun and only spend what you can afford."
Disclaimer: Briefly News does not provide financial advice. Lottery players should make their own decisions and only spend what they can afford to lose. Past draw results do not affect the odds of future draws.
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More on PowerBall and the National Lottery
- Briefly News recently reported on questions surrounding Anele Mdoda’s Lotto post after fans wondered whether a national lottery draw was pre-recorded.
- Anele Mdoda later responded to lottery scam accusations after fans questioned her post about the R120 million Lotto draw.
- A Soweto man who won R93.5 million in PowerBall revealed he left his winning ticket unchecked for several days before claiming his prize.
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Source: Briefly News
