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An unusual sequence of numbers drawn by South Africa’s national lottery has stunned players, prompting allegations of fraud after 20 people won a share of the jackpot.
Consecutive numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and a “PowerBall” number of 10 were the winning combination of the South African National Lottery last night.
Twenty lucky people hit the jackpot and won 5.7 million rand (over € 307,000) each. Another 79 won around 6,283 rand (€ 338) for guessing the sequence but missing the PowerBall.
“Congratulations to the 20 winners of tonight’s PowerBall drawing,” the lottery tweeted.
“These numbers may be unexpected, but we see that many players choose to play these sequences.”
Many perplexed South Africans took to social media claiming the results had been fixed.
“Lotto exposes himself that he is a scam,” posted a Twitter user.
“20 people discussed this and shared that jackpot equally,” ventured another. “No way in hell is that a coincidence.”
Some even called for a judicial corruption investigation similar to the one investigating alleged corruption during the nine-year tenure of former President Jacob Zuma.
The South African National Lottery Commission (NLC), which regulates the game, said the combination of six consecutive numbers is unprecedented and promised to analyze the draw.
NLC spokesman Ndivhuho Mafela told AFP that the commission will conduct a review “and if there is something that went wrong, we will declare it.”
“So we are in the process of doing it right now.”
While it is not uncommon for two players to share the jackpot, multiple winners are extremely rare. The numbers are drawn live on television.
In March 2003, 33 players won a share of the jackpot, according to a South African website that recounts the results.
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