Record South African Lottery winner loses out

24th February 2010 12:19 AM

A record South African Lottery winner loses out this week in more ways than one. Not only did he not win the 91 million rand rollover lottery prize but now he's been hounded from his home and no one seems to know why. After the draw, 52-year-old Stanley Philander, a Cape Town cleaner was announced in the press as the lottery winner. He was announced as the 91 million rand winner, however now it transpires that he is not the true winner after all and in very confusing circumstances.

It’s not known how Mr Philander came to be announced as the South African Lottery winner and the claim meant that the gentleman had been besieged by begging letters from relatives after a newspaper announced him the winner, he has now had to moved to a safe house for their own protection.

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This may explain why the real South African Lottery winner – a 43-year-old woman – has chosen to remain anonymous yet it’s still not clear how the lottery mix-up occurred.

What is clear is that Philander bought a lottery ticket for the South African Lottery, after the draw was held. The ticket contained all the winning numbers from the previous draw but that still doesn’t explain how the newspaper got the story. National Lottery officials always knew that Mr Philander wasn’t the South African Lottery winner and yet this incident has caused much distress for the gentleman and his family.

Right now the whole thing seems to be as clear as mud but one thing is for sure, Mr Philander is not the 91 million rand rollover South African Lottery winner.

Written by Lucy Lotto

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