United Kingdom to Join Powerball – Date Confirmed!

When will Powerball launch in Britain?

Tickets are confirmed to be going on sale from July 21, making the first draw including UK players the Wednesday, July 22 draw. However, due to the time-zone differences, Britain will be getting the results on Thursday, July 23 around 4:00 AM!

 

Are we going to notice any changes here in the States?

Not really – none of the Powerball rules, draw times, add-ons, or anything else will be changing with the launch of UK Powerball. You may notice the jackpot growing slightly faster after the 23^rd, since there will be significantly more players purchasing Powerball tickets; the population of Britain is around 70 million, equivalent to California and Texas combined. For that same reason, the jackpot is likely to be won more frequently than before.

One concern we're frequently emailed about is that US money is going to find its way to Britain and be spent on good causes there rather than at home. Don't worry though, as this won't be the case. All money raised by ticket sales for your state will remain in your state, and the same thing goes for money raised by British Powerball players.

 

How often will the Jackpot be won in the UK?

Doing some quick math, the population of all 48 states & jurisdictions that play Powerball is about 331 million in total (we're assuming equal participation rates here, and ignoring underage residents to keep things simple). The UK's 70 million population puts them at 17.4% of the total Powerball playerbase, so we'd expect 1 in every 5-6 jackpots to be won in Britain.

 

Important Differences

Although nothing's going to change for US Powerball players, there will be some big differences to how the game is played in Britain. For a start, the tickets will be much more expensive: £4 per line, equivalent to $5.36! This increased cost will be used to fund an additional lower-tier prize category (matching two main numbers wins a fixed £8) that doesn't exist in US Powerball. The remaining prizes, except for the Jackpot and Match-5 category, will be calculated draw-by-draw on a pari-mutuel basis, unlike the US's fixed prize values*.

As mentioned in the introduction, the draw times will be awkward for British players. Powerball draws are held in Florida on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 PM ET, but since Britain is five hours ahead of the US, their results will come in at 4:00 AM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

The Powerball jackpot will be advertised differently in the UK. It'll be in pound sterling rather than dollars, and the UK jackpot will be advertised as a "post-tax value". It's unclear what this means exactly, since lottery prizes aren't taxed whatsoever in the UK, but we'd expect it to be clarified in the coming weeks. Another big difference is that the option to take the jackpot as a cash lump sum won't be available to UK winners—it'll be annuities only.

*Except for California, where legislation requires that all lottery prize payouts are pari-mutuel, similar to UK Powerball.

 

Try Powerball Online

In the run-up to the launch date, the jackpot is looking extremely tempting at almost half a billion dollars. If you think you could be the last Powerball jackpot winner before Britain joins the game, head to our Tickets Page. These days, depending on the laws in your state, it's possible to get Powerball tickets online, so it's worth checking out.