First UK Powerball Draw Review: How did we get on?
Updated: Thursday 23rd July 2026
At 11:55 PM on 22/07/26, ticket sales closed for the first ever UK Powerball draw, with players competing for an enormous £300 million jackpot prize. Now that the results are in, we can take a look at the prizes won and see how UK lottery players have taken to this exciting American jackpot game.
The Powerball Draw Results
The winning numbers for the draw were selected using a ball machine in Tallahassee, Florida, at 11:00 PM on Wednesday the 22nd their time, but in Britain it was 4:00 AM on Thursday the 23rd when the winning numbers were chosen. The winning numbers were 4-5-22-50-58, with a Powerball number of 1.
How did British players perform?
There were almost 88,000 prizes won by UK players – using the overall odds of winning a prize, 1 in 14, we can estimate that around 1.2 million tickets were sold in Britain. A strong start! The jackpot wasn't won, so it's still climbing; it's estimated to be £322 million for the next drawing on Sunday morning.
Unusually for a draw with such a big jackpot coinciding with the big UK launch, there were no tickets in either country that managed to win the second-place prize of £1,000,000 (or $1,000,000 in the States). The biggest UK prize went to a ticket that matched 4/5 main numbers plus the Powerball number, taking home £70,188.
Out of all the different states and jurisdictions that play Powerball (there are five states that don't offer lottery games), British players won the most prizes by far: 87,698 prizes, compared to California's 75,269 in second place. However, this doesn't take into account the fact that UK Powerball has an exclusive prize tier, bringing the overall prize odds up from 1 in 25 to 1 in 14. When removing this tier to balance things out, California overtakes the UK along with Florida and New York, placing the UK in 4th for total prizes won. You can view the full prize breakdown on our Powerball Results page.
Key US/UK Powerball Rule Differences
Adapting Powerball for the UK market has resulted in some big differences between the US and UK game rules. We'll take a quick look at the most important ones here.
- As mentioned, UK Powerball offers players a prize for matching two main numbers, but this tier isn't available in the US.
- In the UK, the Powerball jackpot can only be claimed as a 30-year annuity. In the US, jackpot winners have the option to receive their prize as a much smaller one-time payment.
- The UK's advertised Powerball jackpot isn't a clean $-to-£ currency conversion. While the US jackpot is shown as the pre-tax value (US lottery prizes are subject to some steep taxes), the UK version is displayed post-tax. While UK lottery prizes are not normally taxed, annuity prize payments *are*, so the UK Powerball jackpot value already includes these deductions.
What do the Americans think?
By the looks of things, many Americans aren't happy at all about the UK joining their Powerball lottery. Based on current sentiment on X, formerly Twitter, their main issues are:
- The belief that the odds of winning the jackpot will be poorer now that the UK has joined. This is, of course, untrue – the odds of winning the jackpot remain the same regardless of the number of players, although the chances of multiple players winning and having to share the prize are increased.
- The concern that UK players winning the jackpot will result in American lottery funds leaving the country. While technically true, it doesn't take into account the fact that it's a two-way street, and UK lottery funds will also be entering the US every time the jackpot is won there.
- The concern that US lottery funds will be diverted from local good causes in their state. This won't be the case, since all money raised for good causes by lottery ticket sales remains in the state/country/jurisdiction in which the ticket was sold.
- The belief that UK winners are not taxed on lottery winnings, while taxes on US lottery winnings are extremely harsh. This isn't quite the case, since the UK Powerball jackpot can only be received as an annuity, and taxes are applied to UK annuity lottery prizes.
- The complaint that the UK has joined Powerball while the jackpot is already quite big rather than at the start of a fresh jackpot run, giving UK players the opportunity to win a large prize built up entirely by US ticket sales. A good point, to be fair!
Not a great reception, but we think they'll come around to enjoying the faster jackpot growth resulting from the addition of the UK to the game - aside from this, US Powerball hasn't changed at all. That said, they'll go berserk if Britain wins the next jackpot, and this would be very funny, so be sure to buy some extra tickets for the next draw!
Taking Part in the Next Draw
Ticket sales for the next UK Powerball draw will be closing at 11:55 PM on Saturday 25th of July – the jackpot is £322 million, a mind-numbing sum, so be sure to get your tickets before then! Visit our Tickets Page to get yours online.
Published: Thursday 23rd July 2026Lottery News News Archive