World’s biggest lottery with £1,000,000,000 jackpot launches in UK this week

The National Lottery’s Powerball will see UK players pay £4 per line to compete with their US counterparts to win shared jackpots that can balloon into the billions, which will be paid out over 30 years.

Allwyn said players will be able to buy into the game from Tuesday.

If the Powerball jackpot – which is currently estimated at 416 million US dollars (£311 million) – continues to roll until the UK launch, UK players will be in with a chance to win it in the opening draw on Thursday.

It will be the first time the game has operated outside of the US and will offer UK players uncapped jackpots starting at £12 million, which can grow into the hundreds of millions and even billions.

The UK game features an extra ‘match two main numbers’ prize tier, which is only available to UK players and offers a fixed prize of £8.

The ‘match five main numbers’ tier also offers a fixed prize of £1 million, while all other UK prize tiers will vary depending on the balls drawn and the number of winners.

Allwyn chief executive Andria Vidler said: ‘We’re excited to give National Lottery players the chance to dream bigger while supporting thousands of good cause projects across the UK every week.

‘Powerball jackpots can soar into the billions, offering breathtaking sums with the potential to transform lives and communities. We’re encouraging players to get involved when tickets go on sale, and we’ll be crossing our fingers for our first UK winner.’

Powerball follows the National Lottery, making the biggest overhaul to its draw-based Lotto game since its launch in 1994, with players being given two chances to win for every £2 ticket.

The change, which was rolled out from June 7, is expected to more than double the number of Lotto millionaires – from around 140 a year to about 345.

It also follows the recent completion of a £450 million major tech upgrade to the lottery, which involved moving 18 million player records and more than three billion historical transactions from old platforms to new ones, and transforming the technology used by retail partners.

Latest figures from Allwyn show total National Lottery sales, including lottery tickets bought in shops, came in at £8.1 billion in 2025, up 3.5% on the previous year.

More than £1.7 billion was generated for good causes, which incorporates funding for health, education, arts, sports, heritage and charitable causes, and £967 million was raised in taxes.