admin
Sifundiso Ndlovu Chronicle Reporter
A LUCKY Bulawayo man was yesterday presented with a $117,000 lotto jackpot prize, becoming the second punter from the city to pocket the top award that will potentially change his life. The lotto winner, Bishop Mhlanga, was handed a cheque and a bank statement confirming his winning at Mashonaland Turf Club Lobengula Street Branch. The winning bet was placed at Mashonaland Turf Club Fort Street Branch.
Mhlanga said he was chairman of a betting syndicate, Hackers Club.
“We bet as a syndicate of six. We began betting during the days of the State Lottery before lotto started,” said Mhlanga
Mhlanga said they place bets of between $100 and $200 weekly using the same combination of numbers.
‘We have a stack of about 200 permutations of numbers we use to place bets every week. We actually started betting the combination that won the jackpot last year,” said Mhlanga.
According to Mhlanga, the syndicate won $700 last week. He said the club members were going to share the $117,000 windfall equally.
The winner’s cheque was written to him as the chairman of the syndicate.
He said a member of the team discovered the win in the Sunday News but could not believe it until they had verified with Mashonaland Turf Club the following day.
Mhlanga was reluctant to reveal much to the Press but hinted that he intended to invest the windfall in his farming enterprise.
He becomes the second man to win from this part of the country after Tafara Albert Simango who won $5,267 in June 2009.
Mashonaland Turf Club operations executive Howard Mukundu presented the cheque to the winner and said he hoped he was going to solve some of his problems with the windfall.
“We hope you will be able to solve 117 problems out of the 120 problems,” joked Mukundu.
He said that lotto was intended to change lives, adding that since the start of the multi-currency regime about $2 million has been paid out to charity.
“Lotto has been changing lives since its inception in 1999. A total of 124 punters have walked away with the jackpot,” said Mukundu.
One of the punters who was trying his luck during the presentation, Dorman Dlamini, 74, said he was happy for the winner and hoped he would put the money into good use.
“I am happy that someone from Bulawayo won the jackpot. I wanted to shake his hand maybe the luck rubs on me,” said Dlamini.
Since 2009, 17 lucky gamblers have won the lotto jackpot with the biggest jackpot being a staggering $307,000.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter