Powerball rules in the UK

Who runs Powerball in the UK

Powerball is sold in the UK by Allwyn, which has run The National Lottery since 1 February 2024. The Gambling Commission gave Allwyn a separate licence for the game under section 6 of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993, which took effect on Tuesday 21 July 2026, the day tickets went on sale; the first UK draw followed in the early hours of Thursday 23 July 2026. That makes Powerball a National Lottery game, like Lotto or EuroMillions.

The draw belongs to the American game, which The National Lottery calls US Powerball. It's organised by MUSL, which also licenses the Powerball name. The UK game is a separate game that uses the US draw and shares its jackpot; everything else, from the price to the lower prizes and the way the jackpot is paid, is set by the UK rules. MUSL applies the same security standards and compliance reviews to The National Lottery as to the US lotteries.

Who can play

You must be 18 or over to buy, receive or play National Lottery games and to claim a prize, and your age is checked by an independent organisation. You also have to be in the UK or the Isle of Man when you buy: Allwyn won't pay a prize on an entry bought from anywhere else, and an entry bought in the UK or the Isle of Man can only be claimed from Allwyn.

To play online you need a National Lottery account, which is only for UK and Isle of Man residents (people who have been there for more than 183 days in the previous 12 months), and you must be physically there to use it. Visitors can still buy a ticket in a shop, but prizes can't be paid or sent abroad, so they have to come back to claim.

A few people can't play at all. As well as those barred from every National Lottery game, the Powerball rules exclude MUSL's staff and directors, contractors who review its audit and security procedures, the accountants who observe its draws, and their immediate families living in the same household.

What counts as an entry

An entry is five different numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26, chosen by you or by Lucky Dip, and it costs £4. There are no add-ons and no system entries, and you can buy up to four weeks of draws in advance.

Online, an entry only exists once it appears in 'My games' in your account; if it isn't there, it hasn't been entered. In a shop, the printed ticket is your only proof of entry: the play slip doesn't count.

Entries can't be cancelled, because MUSL doesn't allow any Powerball entry to be withdrawn from a draw. Online, you can't cancel once you've confirmed the play slip; if you get two identical Lucky Dips for the same draw, call Customer Care within 120 minutes and Allwyn may refund the duplicate. In a shop, a ticket can only be returned for a refund within two hours (or before sales close, if that's sooner) if it was issued by mistake, can't be read, is incomplete or contains duplicate Lucky Dips. A returned entry still takes part in the draw, but it's no longer yours, so you can't claim anything it wins.

Sales, draws and winning numbers

Sales close at 11.55pm the day before each draw: on Monday for Tuesday, Wednesday for Thursday and Saturday for Sunday. The draws take place in the US at around 11pm Florida time on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, which is the early hours of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday in the UK. UK winners are decided by the results of that US draw, and the winning numbers are confirmed by MUSL.

If a draw is declared invalid, MUSL decides what to do, which can include holding another draw. Allwyn or MUSL can postpone a draw, and if sales have been seriously disrupted Allwyn may keep selling entries for it after the usual cut-off, with MUSL's permission. If Allwyn is ever suspended from a draw, UK and Isle of Man players can't take part in it. When and how the draws take place is covered in Powerball draw time in the UK.

How prizes are worked out

• One prize per line: the highest tier the line matches.
• Ten prize tiers: the jackpot, two fixed prizes (£1 million for Match 5 and £8 for Match 2) and seven shared prizes, each funded by a set percentage of that draw's UK sales.
• Shared prizes depend on ticket sales, the number of winners and exchange rates, so a tier can occasionally pay less than a lower one.
• Fixed prizes can be capped in very rare cases, if the capped prize fund (68.1% of a draw's sales plus £2 million) isn't enough to pay them.
• All prizes are rounded down to the nearest 10p.
• On average 41.2% of sales is paid out in prizes.

Every prize below the jackpot can only be won in the UK and the Isle of Man. The amounts and odds are in Powerball prizes in the UK.

The jackpot rules

The jackpot is shared equally between every jackpot-winning entry in the UK game and the US game. In the UK it's paid over 30 years: a first payment of 1% or 2% of the jackpot fund, at the winner's choice, then a 29-year annuity with payments that rise every year. The annuity can't be changed or cashed in, and it includes a death benefit for the winner's estate. A lump sum is only paid in exceptional cases.

The advertised UK jackpot is an estimate of what a winner will receive over the 30 years, in pounds and after tax, at the exchange rate when it's advertised. The final amount is set once the claim has been validated and the money has arrived from MUSL, so it can be different. A jackpot winner's identity and personal details are passed to MUSL and the annuity broker, and may be processed outside the European Economic Area. All of this is explained in the Powerball jackpot in the UK.

Claiming a prize

Prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the draw. If you tell The National Lottery before the deadline that you intend to claim, you get a further seven days to claim in person. After that the prize is lost, and unclaimed prize money goes to National Lottery good causes.

If a shop ticket is lost, stolen or damaged, Allwyn must receive your written notice by 5pm on the 30th day after the draw. Jackpot winners call first and then attend at least two meetings with Allwyn. The steps for every amount are in how to claim a Powerball prize.

The official documents

Which documents apply depends on how you play. If they ever disagree, the Rules for Draw-Based Games come first, then the Game Specific Rules, then the Game Procedures:

• Powerball Online Game Procedures: how the game works when you play on the website or app.
• Powerball Retail Game Procedures: the same for tickets bought in shops.
• Powerball Game Specific Rules: how the jackpot is claimed and paid, including the annuity and tax.
• Rules for Draw-Based Games Played at Retailers: the general rules for shop tickets, such as ownership, claims and lost tickets. Online play is covered by the Rules for Draw-Based Games Played Online and the Account Terms.

The current editions took effect on 21 July 2026. Allwyn can change the rules at any time, from the moment the changes are published, and it can withdraw the game by giving notice. If anything here differs from the official documents, they're what count.

Frequently asked questions