The Powerball jackpot in the UK: how it grows and how it's paid

One jackpot for the UK and the US

Powerball in the UK is a separate game from US Powerball, with its own price and its own lower prizes, but the jackpot is pooled: every jackpot-winning line in the UK and the US shares the same pot. Each UK line pays into it the same fixed amount in US dollars as an American ticket, which the rules put at 13.6% of UK sales (at an exchange rate of 80p to the dollar). With The National Lottery on board, 49 lotteries now feed the same jackpot.

For each draw, the jackpot fund is made up of the UK's share of sales, the contributions of the US lotteries, any money rolled over from the previous draw and anything the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which runs the game in the US, decides to add from a reserve fund. The odds are the same wherever you play: 1 in 292,201,338 per line.

How it grows and starts again

If no line in the UK or the US matches all six numbers, the jackpot rolls over to the next draw. There's no cap, and with three draws a week it can climb from eight figures to hundreds of millions in a couple of months. After a win it starts again at around £10–12 million in the UK, depending on the exchange rate: after the jackpot was won in August 2026, the next one was advertised at £11.19 million, and after the win of November 2026 at £10 million. In the US, the same restart is quoted at about $20 million.

The biggest jackpot UK players have had a chance at so far was won in Illinois in the US draw of Wednesday 12 August 2026: $1.04 billion in America, advertised in the UK as £542.9 million. The next was won in New Jersey on Wednesday 4 November 2026: $847 million in America, £448.9 million in the UK. The biggest in Powerball's history is still the $2.04 billion won in California in November 2022. The full list is in the biggest Powerball jackpots.

Why the UK jackpot looks so much lower than the US one

Put the two advertised figures side by side and the gap is striking. For the draw of Sunday 1 November 2026 (Saturday 31 October in the US), The National Lottery advertised £404 million, while the US figure was $760 million, with a cash value of $326 million. It's the same jackpot. The difference is in how each country describes it:

Even allowing for the exchange rate, the UK figure is lower, because the US headline is a gross amount and the UK one already has tax taken off. The money behind both is the same: when a UK line wins, MUSL transfers its share of the jackpot fund to Allwyn, where it's converted into pounds and used to pay for 30 years of payments. An American winner doesn't take home the US headline either: most choose the cash option, and federal tax, plus state tax in most states, comes off that. How the two games compare is in Powerball in the UK and the US.

How a UK jackpot is paid: 30 years of payments

A UK jackpot is paid only over 30 years. Once your claim has been validated, MUSL sends your share of the jackpot fund to Allwyn and it's converted into pounds. Then:

1. A first payment for year one, made by Allwyn: you choose whether it's 1% or 2% of the jackpot fund.
2. A 29-year annuity, bought with the rest from an insurer authorised in the UK or the Isle of Man and arranged through a broker appointed by Allwyn. The first annuity payment arrives about a year after the first payment.
3. Payments that rise every year. It's a 'stepped' annuity, so each payment is bigger than the one before; there's no option of equal instalments.

Once the annuity is set up, it can't be changed, cashed in or surrendered. If the winner dies before all the payments have been made, the annuity includes a death benefit: a lump sum paid to their estate, based on the value of the payments still due. The National Lottery's reasoning is that paying over 30 years gives winners a higher total than a one-off lump sum, along with regular payments to plan around.

The amount actually paid can differ from the advertised jackpot, because it depends on the exchange rate when the money arrives from the US, on the winner's age and circumstances and on any US tax that applies.

Can you take a lump sum?

Not as a rule: a UK Powerball jackpot is only available over 30 years, and the cash option American winners can choose isn't offered in the UK. The Game Specific Rules allow a lump sum only in a few situations:

• The winner has died and their personal representative makes the claim.
• A syndicate of more than 35 members wins: its manager can choose a lump sum or a single annuity in their own name. Smaller syndicates receive the first payment through the manager and then an annuity for each member.
• The winner isn't resident in the UK or the Isle of Man on the date they claim.
• An annuity can't be arranged for reasons outside Allwyn's control, or Allwyn considers a lump sum necessary.

In those cases the lump sum is the jackpot fund received from the US, converted into pounds, minus any US tax withheld. It's lower than the advertised jackpot, which is the expected total of 30 years of payments, including what the annuity earns over that time.

Tax on the jackpot

The UK jackpot is advertised after tax. National Lottery prizes aren't taxed in the UK and the first payment isn't either, but each annuity payment is made up of capital, which is usually tax-free, and interest, which is taxable. The advertised figure allows for that tax at the highest rate; how much a winner actually pays depends on their circumstances, including their age.

Because the money comes from the US, a jackpot winner also fills in US tax forms, which are sent to MUSL. Depending on your circumstances, for example if you're not a UK tax resident, US withholding tax may be deducted before you're paid. Allwyn recommends independent financial and tax advice, and with a prize of this size it's worth taking before you decide anything.

If there's more than one winner

The jackpot is shared equally between every jackpot-winning line in the UK and the US, once valid claims have been made. With one winning line in each country, each gets half of the jackpot's cash value; with one in the UK and two in the US, the UK winner gets a third. The UK share is sent to Allwyn and paid under UK rules, over 30 years, while American winners are paid by their own state lottery and can take the cash option.

Every prize below the jackpot is separate and only for UK and Isle of Man players: they're all in Powerball prizes in the UK.

If you win the jackpot

Call The National Lottery to register your win, well within the 180-day claim period. There are then at least two meetings with Allwyn before the first payment:

1. A validation meeting, at Allwyn's head office or another place in the UK, where you confirm your details, hand over your ticket if you bought it in a shop, and fill in a prize claim form and the US tax forms.
2. A payment meeting with the broker, once the money has arrived from the US, where you choose a 1% or 2% first payment, receive it and apply for the annuity, with your birth certificate or a copy of your full passport.

You don't have to go public. Your identity and personal details will, however, be passed to MUSL and the broker to set up the payments. The whole process is in how to claim a Powerball prize.

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