SportStake pools: MatchPlay 13 and MatchPlay 8

SportStake is the National Lottery's soccer pool family, renamed MatchPlay when Sizekhaya Holdings took over the lottery on 1 June 2026. Two pools are on sale: SportStake 13, thirteen matches and one forecast each, and SportStake 8, eight matches with a first-half and a second-half forecast on each. TAB does not run either. This page is the two of them side by side, with this week's cards, close times, results and tips.

A paper pools coupon and a pen on the front-row barrier of a floodlit South African stadium at dusk

We counted the card lengths, payout levels and pool counts from the operators' own published data on Saturday 7 November 2026. Entry prices are what each operator says on its own page, and nobody outside has checked them.

The two SportStake pools side by side, under their old names and their new ones.
Pool	Matches	Single entry	Levels that pay	Open now	Operator
SportStake 13	13	Not published	10/13, 11/13, 12/13 and 13/13	None	the National Lottery
SportStake 8	8	Not published	13/8, 14/8, 15/8 and 16/8	None	the National Lottery

We read "Levels that pay" off every finished pool we have collected, not off a rule book. So it shows what the operator really paid, not what it says it will pay.

How to play it

Play the Lottery pools at the National Lottery

These pools are sold only by the National Lottery: online at nationallottery.co.za or at a Lottery terminal. No bookmaker takes them.

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What each one asks of you

This week's cards

Cheap to enter does not mean easy to win

What changes your chances most is how many levels pay out, because that decides whether a near miss is worth anything. What changes your payout most is how many other people entered, and nobody can see that before the pool closes. You can never price that part, which is why we sell no pool tips.

Most tickets in every pool win nothing. Each game has its own how to play page with the full detail. To see where every figure here came from, read how we check the data.

How to play it:the Lottery pools is sold only by the National Lottery, on nationallottery.co.za or at a Lottery terminal.

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Paid links, and this site can earn a commission when you use them. They change nothing above: the fixtures, results and dividends all come from the pool operator's own feed. Offers as Easybet advertised them on 2026-08-26; their own site is the only place showing today's terms. 18+ only. T&Cs apply.

SportStake and MatchPlay FAQ

What is SportStake called now?

MatchPlay. Sizekhaya Holdings replaced Ithuba as the National Lottery operator on 1 June 2026 and renamed SportStake 13 to MatchPlay 13 and SportStake 8 to MatchPlay 8. Same cards, same operator feed, new name on the operator's site. SportStake 4 is no longer offered.

When do the SportStake pools close, midweek or weekend?

SportStake 13 pool 2034 closes Sat 7 Nov at 15:29 South African time. SportStake 8 pool 1013 closes Sat 7 Nov at 13:59 South African time. Every pool carries its own sale end time in the operator feed, and the fixtures pages read that rather than assume a weekday; midweek and weekend cards both happen.

Where are the SportStake tips and predictions?

On each pool's tips page, linked below. They are built from what the settled pools show, home wins, draws and away wins across every card on file, and not from a forecast. Every pool is a fresh set of matches; nothing about the last card changes the next one.

What do the symbols on a SportStake winning combination mean?

On the National Lottery pools, 4 is a home win, 2 is a draw, 1 is an away win and 7 is a void match where every pick counts. That is the reverse of the TAB pools, which use 1 for a home win. SportStake 8 publishes sixteen symbols: the first-half results of the eight matches, then the second-half results.