Thunderball Launches Fourth Weekly Draw
Last Updated: Wednesday 11th November 2020, 12:10
From Tuesday, Thunderball draws will now be held four times every week. The extra game has been introduced by the National Lottery as part of a move to give players even more chances to win throughout the week.
When Are Thunderball Draws?
With the addition of the fourth weekly draw, Thunderball will take place every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The balls are drawn at approximately 8pm.
When Thunderball was launched back in 1999, it was originally only played on a Saturday. A Wednesday game was introduced in 2002, before draws also started taking place on a Friday in 2010.
Is the Thunderball format changing?
No. The game will remain exactly the same. You still select five main numbers from 1 to 39, plus a Thunderball between 1 and 14. The cost of a single play remains £1, and you can still win up to £500,000 if you manage to match the full winning line.
Why is Thunderball so popular?
Thunderball has been a much-loved game for almost 20 years because it can be played at a cheap price, offers fantastic prizes and has far better odds of winning than other options such as Lotto and EuroMillions. The chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 8,060,598, while the odds of landing any prize are 1 in 13. With a new draw on Tuesday, there are also now twice as many opportunities each week to enter Thunderball in comparison to both Lotto and EuroMillions.
Has the National Lottery made other changes?
As part of a push to raise for more for good causes in the UK, the National Lottery has also launched a new EuroMillions HotPicks game. HotPicks has a top prize of £1 million and is played on Tuesdays and Fridays alongside the main EuroMillions game.
When the fourth weekly Thunderball draw and the new HotPicks game were originally announced back in November, National Lottery operator Camelot also revealed that other changes were being planned. Among the proposals were for a new ‘annuity-style’ game where players could win big prizes in regular instalments over a long period of time rather than receive one-off payments. There are also plans to put systems in place to make sure the Lotto jackpot is won more frequently.
Play Thunderball
If you want to enjoy Thunderball and try to win up £500,000 you can now take part on a Tuesday as well as a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Go to any authorised retailer in the UK or play online. Good luck!