New £311m Powerball lottery is coming to the UK. Here’s how to play
Powerball, the world’s biggest jackpot game, will be launched in the UK this week.
In the National Lottery version of the game, British players will compete with their American counterparts to win joint jackpots worth billions of dollars.
Operator Allwyn has confirmed that players will be able to join the game from tomorrow ahead of Thursday’s opening draw.
What is Powerball?
The game challenges players to choose five white numbers from 1 to 69 and one red ‘Powerball’ number from 1 to 26. To win the jackpot, players must match all six numbers drawn.
In Powerball, the jackpot grows until it is won, which allows the winning total to reach such high figures.
Powerball has created the world’s biggest lottery winner of $2.04bn (£1.5bn) in 2022. The winner, Edwin Castro, bought his ticket in Altadena, California.
Winners can choose to receive their winnings over 30 annual payments, but Castro opted for a lump sum, receiving $997.6 million (£740 million), or $628.5 million (£466 million) after taxes.
How will the UK version work?
Here British players must pay £4 per line to compete with their American counterparts.
The game will offer players unlimited jackpots starting from £12 million.
The UK game has an extra ‘match two main numbers’ prize tier that is only open to UK players and offers a fixed prize of £8.
The ‘match five main numbers’ tier will also offer a fixed prize of £1 million.
All other UK prize tiers will vary depending on the balls drawn and the number of winners.
What is the current Powerball jackpot?
The Powerball jackpot is currently estimated at $544 million (£311 million) with a ‘cash value’ of $241.6 million.
The second is the amount you earn in lump sum, and it is always lower because it has not been invested in growth for 30 years.
What are the odds of winning?
According to the operator, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Odds for other reward tiers vary significantly.
What will their weekly hours be?
From tomorrow, tickets can be purchased online or in stores in the UK until 23.55 the night before the draw (Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays).
Draws will then be held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at the Powerball studio in Florida at around 4 a.m. the following morning.
