How to up your chance of winning big in the new £1 billion Powerball (and why you SHOULDN’T use your birthday as your lottery numbers)

Who wants to be a billionaire? If you have any sense, you’ll be shouting ‘Me!’ from the rooftops.

And you could very soon become one – without the need to build a retail empire like Jeff Bezos or become a tech giant à la Jensen Huang, who heads up chip maker Nvidia.

From this summer, families across the country could win a jackpot of up to £1billion in a major shake up of the National Lottery.

Powerball – the US flagship lottery game that boasts jackpots as high as $2billion – is coming to the UK. Punters will be able to enter this mega lottery outside of the US for the first time.

But there is one major caveat. If you thought the odds of winning the Lotto jackpot or even the EuroMillions top prize were low, think again.

The chance of winning the top prize in Powerball is astronomical – one in 292.2million. But because the odds are low, there’s a good chance the jackpot will be rolled over, which means bumper prize pots for the seven winners, on average, who win big every year.

Is this new game worth playing – or should you stick to the classic Lotto game? We crunch the numbers…

What is Powerball?

Powerball, launched in 1992, is the world’s biggest rolling jackpot that operates across 48 US-based lotteries.

Unlike EuroMillions, for example, the Powerball jackpot is uncapped. It starts at £12million and rolls over each time a draw isn’t won. The prize pot depends on the number of tickets sold, which cost $4 each.

Since August 2021, the jackpot has reached at least $1billion six times.

And this summer it is coming to the UK following an agreement between the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball, and Allwyn, the operator of the National Lottery.

It is expected that the jackpot will only grow as more players enter the game, officials say.

Matt Strawn, of Powerball, says: ‘Players consistently tell us in surveys that faster growing Powerball jackpots is what they’d like to see.

‘Not surprisingly, the higher the jackpots grow the more people play the game in a particular drawing. The more people play, the higher sales grow. The higher sales grow, the higher the jackpots get, the more people play.’

It will offer British punters the chance to win a bigger lottery jackpot than ever before.

Currently the largest jackpots available to Britons are in the EuroMillions, where the top prize is capped at €250million (£217m). One player from the UK managed to bag a £195million pot in 2022.

But the Powerball jackpots dwarf even these huge sums. The largest Powerball jackpot was a little more than $2billion – if one British player won this amount they would cash in around £1.5billion.

Numbers are drawn every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday morning in Florida – at around 4am UK time – so tickets must be bought by 11.55pm the night before to be eligible.

Tickets will go on sale this summer, but the exact date is yet to be confirmed. The game is waiting final regulatory approval.

How will it work?

British players will be competing head to head with US players for a slice of the same jackpot. Payouts will be made in US dollars to Americans and pounds to Britons.

However, the UK version set to launch here in summer will have some variations compared with the American game.

Like other National Lottery games, players must choose a sequence of numbers and match these to numbers drawn by officials.

Powerball works like this. Players must choose five numbers all between one and 69, as well as a ‘Powerball number’ from one to 26.

Like the normal Lotto game, players can pick their own numbers or choose a ‘lucky dip’, where you allow your computer to choose a random sequence for you.

Each line of play will cost £4, double the £2 it costs to play a Lotto game and more than the £2.50 for one line in EuroMillions.

The jackpot prize will be paid to winners over 30 years. Allwyn, which runs the National Lottery, will make the first payment and then the funds for the remaining 29 years are paid by an annuity provider.

The total prize amount is invested in an annuity policy and so will grow over time. The annual pay outs increase each year in what is known as a ‘stepped’ payment arrangement.

The advertised jackpot is the estimated amount paid to a winner over the 30 years, after taxes.

If you win the jackpot, the annuity payments are comprised of a capital and interest element. The capital element is usually tax-free and the interest element is subject to tax.

If the winner dies within 30 years, the remaining premium will be paid to their estate as a lump sum.

What are the odds I win £1billion?

The chance of matching the numbers needed to win each prize ‘tier’ is the same as in the US game.

The odds of winning the jackpot – the size of which will vary depending on the number of tickets bought and weeks it has rolled over – is one in 292.2million.

Matching five main numbers and the one Powerball number is needed to win this pot, and it is split evenly between the winners – whether that is in the US and the UK.

While the chances of matching numbers to win the smaller prizes are the same, the value of these prizes will be different in the UK compared with the existing US structure.

And in nearly all cases, the UK prizes are bigger.

The odds of matching just five main numbers is around one in 11.7million, which will win a $1million prize in the US and £1million in the UK. This is a fixed prize and will not vary.

The chances of matching four main numbers and the Powerball is one in 913,129, which wins around $50,000 in the US and £33,000 in the UK. This UK prize amount – and the ones that follow – may vary depending on the number of players who match these numbers.

Four main numbers – one in 36,525 – will give you $100 in US and £1,100 in the UK while matching three main numbers and the Powerball – one in 14,494 – also wins $100 in the US but £500 here.

The chance of matching three numbers ($7 or £52.10) is one in 580 while two numbers and the Powerball ($7 or £30.80) is one in 701; and one number plus the Powerball ($4 or £15.30) is one in 92.

Matching the Powerball only ($4 or £11.90) has a one in 38 chance.

There is an extra rung of prizes on offer for those playing in the UK – match two main numbers to win a fixed prize of £8 (a one in 28 chance).

The chance of winning any prize is around one in 24 in the US while in the UK it is one in 14, due to the extra lower prize level.

Can I boost my odds of winning?

Players may believe that using commonly drawn numbers or the most ‘overdue’ numbers will boost their chances of winning the jackpot.

For example, since October 2025, the number 61 has been drawn the most in Powerball – some 120 times.

Punters may think that they have a better chance of winning if they choose the number 61 as one of their five numbers.

They may also think that a number that hasn’t been drawn in a while will be drawn soon.

However, in reality this will do nothing to boost your chance of matching your numbers to the draw as each sequence has exactly the same chance of being drawn as any other.

Each draw is an independent event so previous sequences and numbers have no bearing on future draws.

Even 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 has just as much chance of being drawn as 12, 42, 7, 30 and 22 for example.

The same sequence of numbers could theoretically appear every time – it is just as statistically probable as any other set numbers appearing.

The same set of numbers – 4, 15, 23, 24, 35 and 42 – were drawn in two consecutive rounds of the Bulgarian Lottery in 2009. There was a one in more than four million chance of it happening, but officials ruled it a coincidence.

Dr Ben Parker, lecturer in statistics at Brunel University, says: ‘Because certain numbers have come up previously it doesn’t mean it has a likelihood of coming up again.

‘People think they see patterns but the lottery is sufficiently random that you can’t do that.’

Even though it is likely more players will be entering the game following Powerball’s expansion to the UK, this will not change the odds.

The odds of matching the five numbers and the one ‘Powerball number’ are fixed and do not change no matter how many people enter.

It does mean, however, that you may have to share the jackpot with another player if more than one of you match the numbers.

If more people are entering, then there is more of a chance that they will choose the same numbers as you and also win the jackpot prize.

This is where choosing less popular numbers comes in handy. While it will not boost your chances of winning, it may mean you do not have to share the prize if no one else chooses those numbers.

Dr Parker, also an ambassador at the Royal Statistical Society, explains: ‘Every ticket has the same odds of winning but you don’t want to share the prize with somebody else.’

He says that lots of people lots of people pick their birthday numbers or the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 because they think no one else will pick it, but in reality thousands of people do pick this sequence and they will all share the prize if their numbers come up.

Birthday numbers tend to be lower, so picking some higher numbers may reduce the chance of sharing with other winners.

Dr Parker suggests steering clear of psychological picks, in other words guessing what other players may not pick, because the chances are others players are doing the same thing.

He adds: ‘You need to make sure that if you win nobody else has your numbers.

Pick high numbers, get your dog to choose them from ping pong balls or use the last two digits of 6 friend’s phone numbers. It will get you more money on average.’

The luckiest day to play is a Wednesday, according to analysis of previous jackpot wins.

But in reality there is nothing about a Wednesday draw that will boost the chances of winning compared with the other two draw days.

One guaranteed way to boost your odds, however, is to buy more tickets with different numbers.

For example, one £4 ticket means you have a one in 292.2million chance of winning the big pot.

If you bought five £4 tickets – totalling £20 – it means you have a one in 58million chance of winning the jackpot, Dr Parker says.

But remember, lotteries are a form of gambling and you shouldn’t buy tickets if you can’t afford to lose your stake.

Will Powerball be worth playing and how does it stack up against other lotteries?

In short, no, Powerball won’t be worth playing if you want to seriously grow your money.

Dr Parker adds: ‘On average, it’s absolutely not worth it. The point of the lottery is that on average you’re going to lose. They are trying to hook you in with that big prize fund.

‘It’s a bit like football stickers – most are worthless and you know you’re going to lose long term, but you might just get it.

‘Lotteries are a really bad way to gamble – you’re more likely to win if go to the horse racing. Would you rather more chance of winning a smaller prize or hold out for the hope you might win that jackpot?

‘If you were to play Powerball three times a week for ten years, you would play around 1,500 times. This would cost £6,000, but on average you would only get back £3,000. There is a lot of variation of course – some weeks you might win big, most will win slightly less than this. On average, you lose money.’

Out of the Lotteries punters can play in the UK, Powerball will have the worst odds by a country mile.

The National Lottery’s flagship Lotto game currently offers players a one in 45,057,474 of winning the jackpot as they must match six numbers – and this probability is more than five times better than Powerball. Tickets are half the price, too.

The chance of winning any prize with one ticket are one in 9.3. But jackpots are smaller with the biggest sitting at £66million.

The chances per ticket for the rest of the prizes are one in 10.3 for the Lucky Dip prize (two balls); one in 96.2 for £30 (three balls); one in 2,180 for £140 (four balls); one in 144,415 for £1,750 (five balls); and one in 7,509,579 for £1 million (five balls plus bonus ball).

This will chance in the summer in a major shake-up of the game.

From June 7, every £2 ticket will give players two chances to win with the same ticket as there will be two sequences of numbers drawn from two separate machines.

This will better the chances of winning any prize to one in 4.9 and double the chance of winning the jackpot to 22.5million.

Players of the EuroMillions game have the lowest chance of hitting the jackpot out of the games currently available to enter in the UK.

You may be tempted by the prospect of a prize running upwards of €100million in the lucrative draw for just £2.50 per line of play.

Punters must choose five numbers between one and 50 and two ‘lucky star’ numbers between one and twelve.

The highest ever prizes were won last year after the jackpot cap of €250million was reached three times.

But the chance of winning such a huge prize is a cool one in 139,838,160.

Even the chance of winning the silver prize – which equates to 2.61 per cent of the price fund – is just one in 6,991,908. For this, five numbers and one ‘lucky star’ must be matched.

The game pulls in more occasional players as the jackpot creeps upwards, but the chance of winning doesn’t change – even if more people buy a ticket.

Even these staggering odds pale in comparison to Powerball’s one in 292.2million chance.

But if you’re feeling lucky and you have £4 to spare, you may just become a billionaire.

Never gamble more than you can afford to lose. If you are worried about betting, contact the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.

Have you won a large prize on a lottery? moneymail@dailymail.co.uk