How to play UK Lotto and Thunderball: the new two-round Lotto, prices and odds

To play UK Lotto, choose 6 numbers from 1 to 59 for £2 a line; each Wednesday and Saturday draw now has two rounds, and the same line plays in both. To play Thunderball, choose 5 numbers from 1 to 39 plus 1 Thunderball from 1 to 14 for £1 a line, with draws on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and a fixed £500,000 top prize. Prices are as of October 2026, checked on the National Lottery's own pages.

Both games belong to the UK National Lottery, which is run by Allwyn Entertainment Ltd. For the best jackpot odds, Thunderball wins clearly: 1 in 8,060,598, by LottaGo's calculation. This guide explains the new Lotto format, rollovers and the Must Be Won draw, how Thunderball works, and how the two compare with EuroMillions.

UK Lotto and Thunderball in one minute

The EuroMillions UK price of £2.50 covers £1.74 for EuroMillions and £0.76 for the UK Millionaire Maker, according to the official game procedures. All figures were checked on 11 October 2026.

What you need before you play

• To be old enough. LottaGo is for adults (18+); the National Lottery sets its own minimum age.
• A line of numbers. Choose them yourself or take a random line, often called a lucky dip. Both have the same chance.
• An official ticket. Lotto, Thunderball and EuroMillions tickets come from the National Lottery's official channels and retailers. On LottaGo, UK Lotto is "results only"; where Thunderball or EuroMillions is marked "on sale", the Buy ticket button leads to LottaGo's official partner, availability depends on its terms and your local law, and LottaGo earns a commission on any purchase.
• A budget. Thunderball four times a week is £4 a week for one line; Lotto twice a week is £4.

How the new Lotto works: two rounds per draw

The UK Lotto still asks you for 6 numbers from 1 to 59. What changed is the draw. Each Wednesday and Saturday draw night now has two rounds, and the same line plays in both, so one £2 line gets two sets of winning numbers to match. A Bonus Ball is also drawn; you don't pick it yourself.

Here is how to play, step by step:

1. Pick 6 numbers from 1 to 59, or take a lucky dip. Order doesn't matter.
2. Choose the draws: Wednesday, Saturday or both.
3. Pay £2 per line. That single price covers both rounds of the draw night.
4. Keep your ticket and check it against both rounds after the draw.

The smallest win is Match 2: two of your numbers in a round. The National Lottery hasn't published, on the pages LottaGo checked, the official per-line jackpot odds for the two-round format, so LottaGo doesn't quote one. For scale, one round on its own has C(59, 6) = 45,057,474 possible lines. That is the size of a single 6-from-59 draw, not the odds of a £2 Lotto line.

Rollovers and the Must Be Won draw

When nobody wins the Lotto jackpot, it rolls over to the next draw. Under the current rules it can roll over at most five times. The draw after the fifth rollover is a Must Be Won draw: if no line matches all 6, the jackpot rolls down to the lower prizes. In that case Match 2 is paid £5, and the rest of the jackpot money goes to the Match 3 winners.

That makes a Must Be Won draw the one Lotto draw where the jackpot money is certain to be paid out to someone. Your odds of matching numbers are no different from any other draw; only where the money goes changes.

How to play Thunderball

Five numbers from 1–39 plus a Thunderball from 1–14

Pick 5 main numbers from 1 to 39 and 1 Thunderball from 1 to 14. The Thunderball comes from its own separate set, so it can repeat one of your main numbers. Each line costs £1.

A fixed £500,000 top prize

Match all 5 main numbers and the Thunderball to win £500,000. The top prize is fixed and isn't shared, so it doesn't grow with rollovers or shrink when other people win. The jackpot odds come straight from the two pools: C(39, 5) × C(14, 1) = 575,757 × 14 = 8,060,598, so 1 in 8,060,598 per line.

Four draws a week

Thunderball is drawn on Tuesday and Friday at 8pm and on Wednesday and Saturday at 8.15pm, the times of the first broadcast. That is more draws than any other UK National Lottery game covered here.

LottaGo hasn't verified the full Thunderball prize table, so it doesn't list the lower prizes or their odds. One figure is easy to calculate: the chance of matching the Thunderball alone with none of the main numbers is C(34,5) ÷ C(39,5) × 1/14, about 1 in 29. Whether that match pays, and how much, is set out in the National Lottery's prize table.

Which UK lottery has the best odds?

For the jackpot, Thunderball by a wide margin:

• Thunderball: 1 in 8,060,598 (calculated, fixed £500,000)
• EuroMillions: 1 in 139,838,160, from C(50,5) × C(12,2) = 2,118,760 × 66, and about 17 times harder than Thunderball
• UK Lotto: not ranked. The official per-line odds for the two-round format aren't confirmed, and one round alone has 45,057,474 combinations.

Set For Life is another UK National Lottery draw game; LottaGo shows its results but hasn't verified its rules, so it isn't compared here. The odds that matter most depend on what you want: Thunderball for the best realistic shot at a six-figure prize, EuroMillions for the biggest jackpots. Our EuroMillions rules for UK players cover that game, and the UK lottery odds next to other games page ranks every lottery on LottaGo.

Do hot or overdue numbers help?

No. Each draw is random, and a number that came up last Saturday has the same chance on Wednesday. LottaGo's AI Agent builds lines from five strategies (hot numbers, overdue numbers, all-time leaders, typical shape and frequent pairs), and a walk-forward backtest over the last 150 draws compares them with random picks. For Thunderball:

The strategies match about as often as random picks. LottaGo's UK Lotto statistics count only draws since Oct 10, 2015, when the 59-ball game began in LottaGo's data. Since then the most drawn Lotto numbers are 37, 39, 27, 42, 52, and 11, which is a record of the past, not a tip.

Common mistakes

• Checking only one Lotto round. Your line plays both rounds of the draw night. Check it against each set of winning numbers.
• Treating the Bonus Ball like a Thunderball. The Lotto Bonus Ball is an extra ball drawn after the main numbers, and you don't pick it. The Thunderball is a number you choose from 1–14.
• Expecting Thunderball's top prize to grow. It is fixed at £500,000 and doesn't roll over.
• Quoting the old Lotto odds for the new format. One round has 45,057,474 combinations, but that isn't the official figure for a two-round line.
• Chasing a Must Be Won draw with more lines than planned. The rolldown changes who gets the money, not your odds.

How to check your results

1. Find the game and the draw date on your ticket.
2. For Lotto, open the latest Lotto results and compare your line with both rounds. The latest Lotto draw on LottaGo was Oct 10, 2026.
3. For Thunderball, open the Thunderball results: count your main numbers, then check the Thunderball separately. The latest numbers are 4, 15, 16, 18, 33, 10 (the last is the Thunderball), from the Oct 10, 2026 draw.
4. Confirm any win with the National Lottery or your retailer. Their results are final, and they pay the prizes.

FAQ

How does the new UK Lotto work?

You still pick 6 numbers from 1 to 59 for £2 a line, but each Wednesday and Saturday draw night now has two rounds, and the same line plays in both. Each round has its own set of winning numbers. The jackpot can roll over up to five times before a Must Be Won draw, where an unwon jackpot rolls down to lower prizes.

How many numbers are in the UK Lotto?

The UK Lotto uses balls numbered 1 to 59. You choose 6 of them, and the draw adds a Bonus Ball that you don't pick. Matching 2 numbers in a round is the smallest win. Under the new format, every draw night has two rounds, and your line is checked against both.

How much is a UK Lotto ticket?

£2 per line, as of October 2026, and that price covers both rounds of the draw night. Thunderball costs £1 per line and EuroMillions £2.50 in the UK, including £0.76 for the UK Millionaire Maker. Playing one Lotto line in both weekly draws costs £4 a week.

How do you play Thunderball?

Pick 5 numbers from 1 to 39 and 1 Thunderball from 1 to 14, for £1 a line, and choose your draws: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. Match all 5 numbers and the Thunderball to win the fixed £500,000 top prize, at odds of 1 in 8,060,598 by LottaGo's calculation.

Which UK lottery has the best odds?

Thunderball has the best jackpot odds of the UK draw games LottaGo compares: 1 in 8,060,598, against 1 in 139,838,160 for EuroMillions. The new two-round Lotto isn't ranked, because its official per-line odds haven't been confirmed. Better odds come with a smaller prize: Thunderball's top prize is fixed at £500,000.

Can you win Thunderball with just the Thunderball?

The chance of matching only the Thunderball, with none of the 5 main numbers, is about 1 in 29 per line. Whether that match pays a prize, and how much, is set by the National Lottery's Thunderball prize table, which LottaGo hasn't verified. Check the official prize table before you rely on it.

How do you win Thunderball?

By matching numbers, and nothing improves the odds of that. Every line has the same 1 in 8,060,598 chance of the top prize, whether you pick birthdays, hot numbers or a lucky dip. Playing more lines raises your chances only in proportion to the extra cost.

Lotteries are for adults (18+): play for fun, within a budget you set in advance.