Beginning this Tuesday, residents of the United Kingdom will have the opportunity to purchase Powerball lottery tickets, marking a significant expansion of the U.S.-based game. This development follows an agreement reached in April between the Multi-State Lottery Association and Allwyn UK, allowing international players to participate in the same drawings as those in the United States.
Wednesday night’s drawing will serve as the inaugural event open to participants in the U.K. While players across the Atlantic will now compete for the same massive jackpots as their American counterparts, they will face the same challenging odds: 1 in 292.2 million. Lottery officials anticipate that the expanded player base will help Powerball jackpots grow more rapidly, potentially driving increased sales as larger grand prizes attract more interest.
There are specific operational differences for international participants. Tickets purchased in the U.K. will contribute exclusively to the main Powerball jackpot rather than lower-tier prizes, which will feature a distinct prize structure for British players. Additionally, jackpot amounts will vary between the two regions due to currency conversion rates and the fact that U.S. prize totals are advertised pretax. Furthermore, while U.S. winners are typically offered a choice between a cash lump sum or an annuity paid over years, U.K. jackpots will be distributed over a 30-year period.
The expansion provides U.K. players access to significantly larger jackpots than those currently available through domestic or other European lotteries. For comparison, the largest Powerball payout to date was over $2 billion, awarded to a California ticket holder in 2022. In contrast, the EuroMillions lottery, which operates across nine European countries including the U.K. under Allwyn, awarded a maximum of 250 million euros—approximately $285 million—to winners in France, Ireland, and Austria during 2025.
Powerball remains available across 45 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game structure requires players to select five white-ball numbers from 1 to 69 and one red Powerball number between 1 and 26. Official drawings will continue to take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
