Woman walks away R32.5 million richer despite missing PowerBall jackpot
· The South African
$1.04 billion (R16.9 billion) was on the line in last Wednesday’s Powerball draw, and one ticket in Illinois matched every number to take it all.
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But roughly 1 600km away in Massachusetts, a Massachusetts Powerball winner was quietly working out how a windfall of her own would change her life.
The numbers that almost lined up perfectly
Almasa Cajic, of Lynn, Massachusetts, matched all five white-ball numbers drawn on 12 August, missing only the Powerball number itself.
On its own, that combination pays out $1 million, but Cajic had added the Power Play option to her ticket for an extra $1, doubling her prize to $2 million (R32.5 million).
She purchased the winning ticket at Robinson News Convenience in Malden, a store that will now receive a $20 000 bonus for selling it.
A refreshingly grounded plan for the money
Rather than describing a lavish spending spree, Cajic told Massachusetts State Lottery officials she plans to buy one house in Massachusetts and another in Bosnia.
It’s the kind of practical, family-oriented plan that tends to resonate far beyond the state lines where the ticket was sold.
How this Massachusetts Powerball winner’s night compares to the real headline
While the Illinois jackpot grabbed the global headlines, this Massachusetts Powerball winner’s story is the one hitting closer to home for anyone who plays the numbers regularly.
The main jackpot, the eighth-largest in Powerball’s history, was claimed by a single ticket sold at a Hy-Vee gas station in Quincy, Illinois, with the cash option valued at an estimated $450.5 million (R6.6 billion) before taxes.
Three further Massachusetts tickets also matched four numbers and the Powerball, each winning $50 000.
What a win like this would look like back home
South Africa runs its own version of this exact scenario every Tuesday and Friday, just on a smaller scale.
Under Sizekhaya, the country’s PowerBall operator since June 2026, a near-miss like Cajic’s, matching five numbers but not the PowerBall, would still pay out a smaller but life-changing prize locally, without needing to cross an ocean to do it.
Eish, imagine matching five out of six numbers and still walking away a multimillionaire, hectic.
If you matched five of the six but missed the jackpot number, would you call that lucky or unlucky?
Let us know in the comments below …
The South African is the first to deliver PowerBall results. Check back at 21:00 for tonight’s results.