Quick answer: The odds of winning Thunderball's £500,000 top prize are 1 in 8,060,598 per £1 line. Your chance of winning any prize is 1 in 13, and matching just the Thunderball number pays £3 at 1 in 29. Draws are every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the top prize is fixed, not shared.
Key takeaways
- Thunderball has nine prize tiers, from £3 to £500,000, and every prize is a fixed amount (subject to rare prize capping).
- Its top-prize odds are the shortest of the National Lottery's main draw games, and nearly three times better than the Lotto jackpot odds per ticket.
- On average 52% of Thunderball sales are paid out as prizes and nothing rolls over, so treat it as entertainment spending.
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What are the odds of winning Thunderball?
Thunderball's odds range from 1 in 29 for matching just the Thunderball number (£3) to 1 in 8,060,598 for matching all five main numbers plus the Thunderball (£500,000). Overall, a £1 line has a 1 in 13 chance of winning something, and every prize is a fixed cash amount.
| Match | Prize | Odds | Chance as a % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 + Thunderball | £500,000 | 1 in 8,060,598 | 0.0000124% |
| 5 | £5,000 | 1 in 620,046 | 0.000161% |
| 4 + Thunderball | £250 | 1 in 47,416 | 0.00211% |
| 4 | £100 | 1 in 3,648 | 0.0274% |
| 3 + Thunderball | £20 | 1 in 1,437 | 0.0696% |
| 3 | £10 | 1 in 111 | 0.901% |
| 2 + Thunderball | £10 | 1 in 135 | 0.741% |
| 1 + Thunderball | £5 | 1 in 35 | 2.86% |
| Thunderball only | £3 | 1 in 29 | 3.45% |
| Any prize | 1 in 13 | 7.7% |
The odds are the approximate figures in the National Lottery's Thunderball game procedures; the percentages are our conversions. A few things stand out:
- Most wins are small. Roughly four in five winning lines are the £3 or £5 prizes (our calculation from the tier odds).
- The Thunderball is worth a lot at the top. Five main numbers without it pay £5,000; with it, £500,000.
- Two routes to £10. Matching three main numbers (1 in 111) is slightly more likely than two plus the Thunderball (1 in 135).
How does the Thunderball number work?
You choose five main numbers from 1 to 39 and one Thunderball from 1 to 14. The Thunderball is matched separately from the main numbers and lifts most prize tiers. Matching it on its own, with none of your main numbers, still wins £3, which is the most common Thunderball prize.
Because the Thunderball comes from its own range, the top-prize odds are easy to check. There are 575,757 ways to choose five numbers from 39, and multiplying by the 14 possible Thunderballs gives 8,060,598.
You can choose your own numbers or take a Lucky Dip, and the odds are the same either way. You will match the Thunderball on about 1 in 14 lines. But the £3 prize only applies when none of your main numbers come up, which is why its odds are 1 in 29 rather than 1 in 14.
How much does Thunderball cost and when are the draws?
Thunderball costs £1 a line, with four draws a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Draws are shown at 8pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and 8.15pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and you need to buy by 7.30pm on the day. Results go online from around 9.30pm.
You can play on the National Lottery website, in its app or in shops. There are no rollovers: because the prizes are fixed, nothing carries over to the next draw if the top prize is not won.
How does Thunderball compare with Lotto?
Thunderball has much better top-prize odds than Lotto: 1 in 8,060,598 per £1 line, against 1 in 22,528,738 for the Lotto jackpot per £2 ticket. But its top prize is smaller. Lotto has better odds of winning something (1 in 4.9 against 1 in 13), though most Lotto wins are £1.
| Thunderball | Lotto | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1 a line | £2 a line |
| Draws | 4 a week | 2 a week, two rounds each |
| Top prize | £500,000, fixed | Jackpot, starts at £2m, shared |
| Top-prize odds per line | 1 in 8,060,598 | 1 in 22,528,738 |
| Top-prize odds for £2 spent | 1 in 4,030,299 (two lines) | 1 in 22,528,738 (one line) |
| Odds of £1 million or more for £2 | Not possible (top prize £500,000) | about 1 in 3.2 million |
| Any-prize odds per line | 1 in 13 | 1 in 4.9 |
| Smallest prize | £3 | £1 |
| Average share of sales paid as prizes | 52% | 50% |
| Rollovers | None | Up to five, then a Must Be Won draw |
Put simply, Thunderball gives you far shorter odds of its top prize, for half the price. Lotto is the one of the two that can pay £1 million or more, through its jackpot or its fixed £1 million prize for five numbers plus the Bonus Ball. For every other UK game, see our ranking of which lottery has the best odds.
How often do people win Thunderball?
On average, one line in 13 wins a prize, usually £3 or £5. The £500,000 top prize is 1 in 8,060,598 per line: if you played one line in all four draws every week (208 draws a year), you would wait about 38,750 years on average to win it.
In money terms, one line in every draw for a year is 208 lines and £208. On average you would expect about 16 wins, mostly £3 and £5, and around £110 back in prizes, because the prize table pays out roughly 52p for every £1 staked (our calculation from the tier odds and prizes).
How many people win the top prize in a particular draw depends on how many lines are sold, which changes from draw to draw. Because each line has fixed odds and a fixed prize, a single draw can have several £500,000 winners, each paid in full unless prize capping applies.
Has anyone ever won Thunderball?
Yes. The National Lottery regularly publishes stories of £500,000 Thunderball winners. Because the top prize is fixed rather than shared, one couple who accidentally bought the same numbers on two tickets for a draw in October 2019 won the top prize twice, collecting two £500,000 prizes from a single draw.
That story also shows how fixed prizes work. Buying the same numbers twice doubled what they won, but not their chance of winning: hitting those numbers was still 1 in 8,060,598.
Is Thunderball worth playing?
It depends what you want from it. If you want the best top-prize odds of the main National Lottery draws, Thunderball has them. If you want the best chance of winning anything, Lotto's 1 in 4.9 is shorter. Either way, only about half of sales go back as prizes, so it is entertainment, not income.
If you play, set a budget first and treat any win as a bonus. Our guide on how to win the lottery in the UK explains what really changes your chances, and our lottery odds guide compares every UK draw. If you like fixed prizes you can see up front, our instant win games show every prize and how many are left before you play.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Thunderball top prize shared?
No. The £500,000 top prize is a fixed amount, so every winning line receives it in full, even if there are several winners in the same draw. The only exception is prize capping, which applies in very rare cases when the total prizes in a draw would be more than four times that draw's sales.
Does Thunderball roll over?
No. Because every Thunderball prize is fixed, nothing rolls over if the top prize is not won. Each draw offers the same £500,000 top prize at the same 1 in 8,060,598 odds. That is different from Lotto and EuroMillions, whose jackpots grow when nobody wins them.
What do you win if you only match the Thunderball?
Matching the Thunderball number but none of your five main numbers wins £3, at odds of 1 in 29. Matching the Thunderball plus one main number wins £5, at 1 in 35. These two tiers make up most Thunderball wins, which is why the overall odds of winning a prize are as short as 1 in 13.
What time is the Thunderball draw?
Thunderball draws are shown at 8pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and at 8.15pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Ticket sales for a draw close at 7.30pm on the day, and results are published on the National Lottery website from around 9.30pm.
Are Thunderball winnings taxed?
No. National Lottery wins, including Thunderball prizes, are not taxed: gov.uk lists them among the income you do not pay tax on. If you later earn interest on the money, that interest may be taxable. Our guide to tax on lottery and competition winnings explains more.
Sources
- Thunderball Online Game Procedures, The National Lottery, accessed 24 September 2026
- About Thunderball, The National Lottery, accessed 24 September 2026
- Thunderball winners: won the top prize twice, The National Lottery, accessed 24 September 2026
- Lotto Online Game Procedures, The National Lottery, accessed 24 September 2026
- Double Your Luck: New Lotto Gives Players Two Chances to Win, Allwyn, accessed 24 September 2026
- Income Tax: introduction, GOV.UK, accessed 24 September 2026
- Tax on savings interest, GOV.UK, accessed 24 September 2026
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