Powerball FAQs

Select five numbers from 1 to 69, plus one Powerball number from 1 to 26. You can play online or in-store. Go to the How to Play Powerball page for a full guide.

Draws are held at around 4am UK time on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. This draw time corresponds to the previous evening in the U.S., as draws take place in Tallahassee, Florida.

You must purchase tickets by 11:55pm on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday to enter the draw that takes place a few hours later.

You can play the same numbers for up to four weeks in advance. If you play all three draw days, this makes it 12 consecutive draws.

Yes. The Powerball is drawn from a separate set of numbers, so it is possible for one of the first five numbers to appear again as the Powerball.

Powerball costs £4 for one line of numbers.

Powerball is available in 45 U.S. states, plus three other jurisdictions (Washington D.C., U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico). It had been played in the U.S. for more than 30 years before the deal was struck to expand to the UK in 2026.

You win prizes by matching the numbers you pick to the balls that are drawn. Prizes start from matching as few as two main numbers, or the Powerball on its own, and increase in value as you match more numbers. Go to the Prizes page to find out about all 10 different ways to win. You must match all six drawn numbers to win the jackpot.

The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 14. Your chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million. See the Odds page for more information.

Yes. The jackpot starts at around £12 million (converted from a fixed $20 million) and grows every time it is not won. It has climbed higher than $1 billion several times in the game’s history.

No. Unlike most other UK games such as EuroMillions or Lotto, the advertised Powerball jackpot is an annuity. This is paid out in 30 annual instalments, providing you with a guaranteed income over 30 years. It is also a larger total payout than if the same prize was offered as a one-time lump sum. There is no option to claim the jackpot as a cash lump sum in the UK.

If a jackpot winner dies before 30 years have passed, the remaining money gets paid to their estate.

Yes. If more than one player matches all the numbers, across all participating locations, the jackpot is split between winners.

Below the jackpot, a couple of the prizes are fixed (£1 million for matching five numbers, and £8 for matching two). The other non-jackpot prizes are paid on a pari-mutuel basis in the UK, so the amount changes from draw to draw depending on how much money has been raised from ticket sales and the number of winners.

It depends on how much you win, but if you buy a ticket in-store you will need to claim by either visiting an authorised retailer, submitting an online claim form or contacting the National Lottery on 0333 234 50 50. Head over to the page on Claiming Prizes for full details.

All prizes won in the UK must be claimed within 180 days of the draw date.