The famous American lottery game Powerball is preparing to cross international waters this summer, welcoming players from England, Scotland, and other areas of the United Kingdom for the first time.
Officials announced Tuesday that the Multi-State Lottery Association, which oversees Powerball operations, has reached an agreement with Allwyn UK, the company that manages the U.K.’s National Lottery. The partnership still requires approval from British gambling regulators.
This marks a historic first — never before has a lottery outside American borders contributed to Powerball’s jackpot pool.
Matt Strawn, who leads Powerball operations and serves as chief executive of the Iowa Lottery, explained the reasoning behind the move. “We’re constantly looking for ways to make sure that we’re keeping Powerball culturally and commercially relevant,” Strawn said. “And this really is the next natural progression in doing just that.”
Winners on both continents will compete for identical jackpot amounts, with American prizes paid in dollars and British prizes distributed in pounds.
American players won’t see any changes to their lottery experience, Strawn confirmed. Tickets will remain $2, and the astronomical odds of hitting the jackpot — 1 in 292.2 million — stay the same. However, the addition of UK ticket buyers will create a larger player base, causing jackpots to climb more rapidly.
“Players consistently tell us in survey after survey that faster growing Powerball jackpots is what they’d like to see,” Strawn explained. “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.”
British players will gain access to significantly larger jackpots than currently available through domestic and European lottery options.
Powerball’s record-breaking payout reached slightly above $2 billion in 2022 when a California ticket holder claimed the prize. By comparison, EuroMillions — a nine-country European lottery that Allwyn also operates in the UK — awarded its largest British prize of £195 million ($265 million) in 2022.
Allwyn UK Chief Executive Andria Vidler expressed enthusiasm about the partnership in a statement. “Our ambition is to bring more games, more innovation and more excitement to The UK National Lottery — and it doesn’t get more exciting than Powerball, with its transformative jackpots and life-changing contribution to good causes,” Vidler said.
While jackpot amounts will be equivalent across countries, advertised prize estimates will vary due to currency exchange rates and different tax disclosure practices. The U.S. promotes pretax prize amounts, while the UK follows different advertising standards.
Payment structures will also differ between nations. British Powerball winners will receive their jackpots distributed over three decades, while American winners can choose between annual payments through an annuity or an immediate cash option — with nearly all selecting the cash alternative.
Though all participants will compete for the same grand prize, secondary prize tiers will vary between the two countries.
Currently, Powerball operates across 45 American states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The game requires players to select five numbers from white balls numbered 1 through 69, plus one number from 1 to 26 on the red Powerball. Drawings will maintain their current schedule of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
More than 31 million people participate in at least one National Lottery game annually throughout the United Kingdom.
This international expansion will not affect Mega Millions, America’s other major lottery game.
