A new huge jackpot game is coming to the UK and there’s a £300million prize up for grabs. The National Lottery’s Powerball will see UK players pay £4 per line to play against US counterparts. The shared jackpots can reach into the billions.
Players will be able to buy from tomorrow, with the opening draw taking place on Thursday. The game was founded in the US in 1992. The Powerball jackpot is estimated at $544million (£311million), with a cash value of $241.6million (£180million).
People wanting to play will select five white numbers from 1 to 69 and then one red Powerball number which is from 1 to 26. Winners must match all six drawn numbers.
If there is no winner, the jackpot will grow.
Winners can receive their prize as an annuity paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or as a lump-sum payment.
The game has only operated in the US – until now. If the Powerball jackpot continues to roll until the British launch, UK players will be in with a chance to win it in the opening draw.
The game will offer UK players uncapped jackpots starting at £12million.
But the winnings have the potential to grow into the hundreds of millions and even billions of pounds.
There’s one feature that will only be available to Brits. The UK game features an extra “match two main numbers” prize tier, which offers a fixed prize of £8.
UK players will be able to buy into the game from 5am Tuesday. The first draw for Brits will take place this Thursday.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292million, according to the operator, reports Daily Mail.
Tickets will be available to buy online or in UK stores until 11.55pm the night before the draws (on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays).
Draws then take place at around 4am the following morning, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, at the Powerball studio in Florida.