Thunderball Remains £1 as UK Lotto Prepares For Changes
Last Updated: Tuesday 2nd July 2019, 10:37
As the UK Lotto prepares for its final draw tonight under the existing format, players who wish to continue playing a lottery game for £1 will be pleased to know the Thunderball, which has a fixed top prize of £500,000, will remain unchanged.
Thunderball takes place three times a week on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and players must match five main numbers, from one to 39, plus the Thunderball number, from a second matrix of one to 14, to win the top prize. Players can also win prizes for matching fewer numbers, starting with a £3 prize for matching just the Thunderball.
The Thunderball game works slightly differently to the UK Lotto as each prize is fixed, meaning the same value prizes will be won by players in every draw, regardless of ticket sales and winner numbers. This is particularly good news for players in the higher prize tiers as, if there are multiple prize winners, each player will receive the set prize rather than a share of it. For top prize tier winners, this means a guaranteed win of £500,000.
To read more about the game, visit the Thunderball page, which includes details of the very favourable odds for this game where there is a 1 in 13 chance of winning a prize!
Meanwhile, players are gearing up for the UK Lotto draw tonight which has an estimated jackpot of £2 million which must be won. Should no player successfully match all six numbers, the total jackpot prize will roll down to the next winning tier (usually Match 5 and the Bonus Ball) and be distibuted amongst those winners.
This will be the final National Lottery draw in the game’s current format before the grand re-launch on Saturday when there is a guaranteed jackpot of £10 million plus 1,000 Lotto Raffle prizes worth £20,000 to be won!
UK Lotto tickets can be purchased until 19.30 BST tonight by visiting the Lottery Tickets page or from an authorised retailer. After that time ticket sales will be suspended until Thursday morning to allow for implementation of the technical changes required for the new format.
Thunderball, Hot Picks and EuroMillions tickets will be unaffected by the ticket sales suspension so players should be able to buy these tickets as usual throughout this period. Remember, tonight's £2 million jackpot must be won, so don't miss out on this penultimate draw!