I love a good lottery winner story.

In the past month alone, we had two mates who honoured a handshake 28 years earlier and split their winnings, which warms the heart, and then the story of the R153 million PowerBall winner from Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Still heartwarming, but tough not to be a little jealous when I also buy my tickets through my banking app, and have yet to strike it lucky.

South Africa’s latest lottery winner is a Gauteng small business owner, whose R20 ticket landed him a R37,9 million jackpot, and he intends to try and fly under the radar.

That’s a shrewd move, because you’ll find plenty of family and friends emerging from the woodwork when they find out you hit the winning numbers.

TimesLIVE with more on the tactical approach:

“I am not planning on telling any member of my family, including my mother. I’m scared that if I tell her, she might get excited and tell her best friend by mistake [who will tell others] and that might cause me unwanted problems and will compromise my safety.”

Among the first things he wants to do with the cash windfall is to erect a tombstone for his late father, and buy a car for his business because it requires him to travel around the province to meet his clients.

Not even his own mother. Trust nobody.

He’s not adopting the ‘quit your job immediately’ approach, which is disappointing, but there’s nothing wrong with using the cash to grow your small business, so respect on that front.

The winner said he had hardly been able to sleep since the July 29 draw, and kept the winning ticket under his pillow for two days, waking up every hour to make sure this was all real.

It was, and is, so let’s get back to those ‘flying under the radar’ tactics:

He will only buy himself a proper house in one of the province’s exclusive housing estates next year, because he does not want people to suspect that he is the winner of the Lotto jackpot.

He will also invest a small amount towards growing his business and the rest he will invest.

All Ithuba lottery players who win more than R50 000 are offered trauma counselling and financial advice, so he will have some help.

Enjoy your winnings, pal, and good luck trying to buy that house without raising eyebrows.

[source:timeslive]