Powerball Lottery Guide: Rules, Tickets, Odds, Prizes and Online Access
Powerball is one of the world's largest jackpot lotteries. A standard entry uses five white numbers from 1 to 69 and one red Powerball from 1 to 26. In the United States, a standard play costs $2 and drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Powerball is sold through participating lotteries in 45 US states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Since July 21, 2026, official Powerball participation has also been available through the UK National Lottery, although the UK version has its own ticket price, non-jackpot prizes and jackpot-payment rules.
This guide explains how the game works, the odds and prizes, Power Play, jackpot payments, online access and the important differences between buying an official lottery entry and using a third-party lottery service.
What is Powerball?
Powerball is a multi-jurisdiction jackpot lottery coordinated through the Powerball Product Group and participating lotteries. It is not a US federal lottery and Powerball.com is not a nationwide online ticket store.
In the United States, Powerball is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not currently sell Powerball.
The game expanded outside the United States in July 2026 when the UK National Lottery began offering official Powerball participation. UK players use the same winning-number draw for the jackpot, but they do not simply buy a US ticket. The UK product operates under separate National Lottery rules.
How to play Powerball
A standard Powerball line is simple:
- Choose five different white-ball numbers from 1 to 69.
- Choose one red Powerball number from 1 to 26.
- Buy the entry before the cutoff set by the lottery issuing the ticket.
The five white numbers can appear in any order. The red Powerball comes from a separate pool and cannot be substituted for one of the five white numbers.
Players can choose their own numbers or use a randomly generated selection. In the United States this is commonly called a Quick Pick. The UK National Lottery uses the term Lucky Dip.
How much does a Powerball ticket cost?
A standard US Powerball play costs $2. Power Play generally costs an additional $1 where available. Double Play, which enters the same numbers into a separate drawing in participating jurisdictions, generally costs another $1.
Idaho and Montana are exceptions because Power Play is bundled into the purchase, creating a $3 minimum Powerball play. California also operates differently from most Powerball jurisdictions because its lower-tier prizes are paid on a pari-mutuel basis.
UK Powerball price
A UK National Lottery Powerball line costs £4. The UK product uses the same main Powerball draw for the jackpot, but its non-jackpot prize structure differs from the standard US schedule.
When are Powerball drawings?
Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time at the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee, Florida.
Ticket-sales cutoffs are not identical across the United States. Each participating lottery establishes its own deadline, so players should check the rules of the lottery that will issue their ticket rather than relying on one nationwide cutoff.
Powerball prizes and odds
The standard US game has nine winning combinations.
Match 5 white balls plus the Powerball
Prize: Jackpot. Odds: 1 in 292,201,338.
Match 5 white balls
Standard prize: $1,000,000. Odds: approximately 1 in 11,688,054. With Power Play: $2,000,000.
Match 4 plus the Powerball
Standard prize: $50,000. Odds: approximately 1 in 913,129.
Match 4
Standard prize: $100. Odds: approximately 1 in 36,525.
Match 3 plus the Powerball
Standard prize: $100. Odds: approximately 1 in 14,494.
Match 3
Standard prize: $7. Odds: approximately 1 in 580.
Match 2 plus the Powerball
Standard prize: $7. Odds: approximately 1 in 701.
Match 1 plus the Powerball
Standard prize: $4. Odds: approximately 1 in 92.
Powerball only
Standard prize: $4. Odds: approximately 1 in 38.
The overall odds of winning any standard US Powerball prize are approximately 1 in 24.9. These are standard US prize amounts. California is an important exception.
Why Powerball prizes are different in California
California pays Powerball prize levels below the jackpot on a pari-mutuel basis. The available prize pool and the number of winning tickets help determine the actual payment. A Match 5 ticket bought in California, for example, should not automatically be described as winning the standard $1 million paid in most other participating jurisdictions.
California also does not use the standard Power Play prize system.
How Power Play works
Power Play is an optional feature in most US Powerball jurisdictions. For an additional $1, eligible non-jackpot prizes can be multiplied by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X.
Power Play does not multiply the jackpot. Matching all five white balls without the Powerball is another exception: with Power Play, this prize is fixed at $2 million rather than being multiplied by the selected multiplier. The 10X option is available only when the initially advertised jackpot is $150 million or less.
Power Play does not improve the odds of matching the winning numbers. It changes the value of qualifying prizes if a ticket wins.
Power Play and Double Play are not the same
Power Play changes the value of eligible prizes in the normal Powerball drawing. Double Play is a separate drawing that uses the player's Powerball numbers again.
Double Play is offered only in participating jurisdictions and has its own prize structure, including a top prize of up to $10 million under current US rules.
How the Powerball jackpot works
To win the jackpot, a ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball. If no ticket wins, the jackpot rolls into the next drawing and can continue growing.
After a jackpot win, Powerball currently resets to an advertised $20 million annuity jackpot. The $20 million figure should not be understood as an unchangeable permanent guarantee. Advertised jackpot amounts are determined using game sales and interest-rate assumptions.
If more than one ticket wins a drawing, the jackpot is divided between the winning tickets according to the applicable rules.
Powerball cash option or annuity
US Powerball jackpot winners generally have two payment choices. The cash option pays the present cash value of the jackpot prize pool as a lump sum. The annuity is paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years: an initial payment followed by 29 annual payments, with the payments increasing by approximately 5 percent each year.
The large jackpot figure advertised before a drawing is the annuity value, not the cash value. Both figures are stated before applicable taxes. Election deadlines and payment procedures vary by the lottery that issued the winning ticket.
How UK Powerball is different
Official UK Powerball participation began on July 21, 2026 through the UK National Lottery. UK players choose five numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball from 1 to 26 and compete for the shared Powerball jackpot.
A UK line costs £4. Two UK non-jackpot prizes are specifically confirmed by Allwyn: matching two main numbers pays a fixed £8, and matching all five main numbers without the Powerball pays a fixed £1 million. Other UK non-jackpot prizes can vary and should not be replaced with the standard US prize amounts.
A UK jackpot is paid over 30 years under the UK National Lottery's Powerball rules. The currently accessible official material does not establish enough detail to safely describe the full UK prize schedule, exact installment mechanics, inheritance treatment or a US-style cash alternative. Those details should be checked directly against the current UK Game Specific Rules rather than inferred from US Powerball.
Can you buy Powerball tickets online?
There is no single official Powerball website that sells tickets online across the United States or worldwide. Powerball.com provides game information, results and drawing information, but online ticket sales are handled separately by individual participating lotteries where permitted.
Some jurisdictions offer official digital lottery sales. Others rely on physical retailers, subscriptions, approved services or other systems. Because these rules change, check the official lottery that would actually issue the ticket.
An app or website displaying Powerball numbers is not automatically an official Powerball retailer.
Official lottery sale, courier or lottery bet?
Official lottery sale
The entry is issued directly through a participating lottery or an authorized sales channel. The lottery is responsible for validating the entry and administering the prize.
Lottery courier
A courier may receive an order and arrange for a physical ticket to be purchased from an authorized retailer. Check where the original ticket is kept, whether the customer receives a ticket scan, who owns the ticket and what happens if it wins a large prize.
Lottery betting service
A lottery betting operator does not necessarily purchase a Powerball ticket. The customer may instead be betting on the result of the official drawing. Winnings are then owed by the betting operator under its own rules rather than by the lottery that conducted the draw.
These products should not be treated as interchangeable.
Can international players win Powerball?
Citizenship is not generally what determines whether a valid US retail Powerball ticket can win. A visitor can buy a ticket from an authorized retailer while physically present in a participating US jurisdiction, subject to local age and purchase rules.
International access becomes more complicated when the buyer is not physically present. Possible arrangements include official local lottery sales, lottery couriers, ticket-ordering services and bets on the Powerball result. They do not all provide the customer with the same legal or practical relationship to an official Powerball ticket.
Since July 2026, eligible UK players also have an official route through the UK National Lottery.
Where do you claim a Powerball prize?
A Powerball prize is generally claimed through the jurisdiction that issued the winning ticket. There is no single national claim deadline.
For example, California generally gives winners 180 days to claim non-jackpot Powerball prizes and one year to claim a Powerball jackpot. Other participating lotteries use different deadlines and procedures.
Anyone holding a potentially valuable ticket should check the issuing lottery immediately rather than assuming that another state's deadline applies.
Are Powerball winnings taxed?
US lottery winnings can be subject to federal income tax and, depending on the jurisdiction and winner, state or local tax. Federal withholding on qualifying lottery winnings is not necessarily the same as the winner's final federal tax liability.
Tax treatment can also be different for non-US residents. Because the amount involved, place of purchase, residence and individual tax position all matter, large-prize winners should obtain professional tax advice rather than relying on a general lottery guide.
What is the biggest Powerball jackpot?
The largest Powerball jackpot verified in the research for this guide is the $2.04 billion jackpot won by a single California ticket in the November 7, 2022 drawing.
Large-jackpot rankings can change, so readers looking for record prizes should use the site's dedicated biggest lottery jackpots coverage rather than treating an evergreen rules guide as a live ranking.
Common Powerball misconceptions
Powerball.com does not sell tickets worldwide. The advertised US jackpot is not the same as its cash value. Power Play does not multiply the jackpot. The 10X Power Play multiplier is not available for every drawing. California does not use the standard fixed lower-prize schedule. Claim deadlines are not identical across all Powerball jurisdictions. UK Powerball is official, but its ticket price and lower-prize rules are not identical to the US game. Past winning numbers do not make a number more likely to appear in the next drawing.
Responsible play
Powerball is a game of chance. No number system, prediction method or past-results pattern can guarantee a winning ticket. Buying more lines increases the number of combinations purchased and the amount spent, but it does not make any individual number combination more likely to be drawn.
Play only where permitted and within an amount you are comfortable losing.