UK Thunderball
Name
Operator
Type
Country
Website
Founded
Lottorating
Thunderball
National Lottery (via Camelot)
National lottery
UK
national-lottery.co.uk
1999
22/50
Introduction
Overview
The Thunderball is the National Lottery's smaller lotto offering.
.
Where Available
UK, though some concierge and betting services offer it in other countries.
How it Works
Date and time of draws
The Thunderball draw takes place three times a week on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 7.30 pm GMT.
No. of balls and how to hit the jackpot
Thunderball has two ball hoppers with 37 main balls and 14 bonus balls or 'Thunderballs'. Players need to pick 5 main plus 1 bonus for the jackpot prize.
Other Variations
There are no variations on this game.
Price, Tickets & Sales
Ticket Price
Tickets for the Thunderball are priced at £1, which is about average as Lottos go.
Tickets Sold Per Draw
For a secondary lottery draw, the Thunderball performs well. Around 2m tickets are sold per draw, which is more than some main lottos such as the Irish Lotto, or the multistate Hot Lotto.
Sales per draw
At £1 per ticket, sales are around £2m per draw with little variation (other than weekday) as there are no rollovers.
Odds
Prize Table
Odds of hitting the jackpot
Even though players only choose 6 balls in total, the Thunderball is used across all payout levels, including a prize for only hitting the Thunderball on its own (0 and 1), a 14/1 shot, which pays back the winner's stake. Overall, players stand to win something 1 in 12 times and the lowest payout is more than your stake (£2). The prize table is below.
The odds of hitting the Thunderball jackpot of 5 plus 1 balls are fairly 'low' in lottery circles at 8m to 1.
Balls and Bonus Balls
Prize
Odds
5 and 1
5 and 0
4 and 1
4 and 0
3 and 1
3 and 0
2 and 1
1 and 1
0 and 1
500,000*
5,000
250
100
20
10
10
5
3
8,060,598
620,046
47,416
3,648
1,437
111
135
35
29
*Jackpot is a fixed amount of £500,000
Odds of winning any prize
The odds of winning any prize is 1 in 12.
Jackpots
Minimum jackpot
The downside to the Thunderball game is that the jackpots are small and are also fixed. In this sense it is more of a 'draw' than a lottery. Easier to hit yes but fixed at £500k max.
Average jackpot
There are no rollovers as such so there is no difference between playing one week and the next. The good news though is that if you hit the 5 plus 1 jackpot you don't share the £500k with other players. There is one weird exception to this in the case that more than around 7 players all hit the jackpot on the same draw - which, given some players' overlapping 'favourite' selections such as 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, is actually possible!).
Average jackpot when hit
As above, jackpots are fixed though not shared.
Highest jackpot ever
As above, jackpots are fixed, not shared.
Jackpot winners per year
With 2m tickets sold each draw, there should be around 38 winners per year of the £500k prize.
Contribution to the jackpot
The jackpot is worth 14% of prizes.
Return to Player
Introduction
The RTP as mentioned doesn't change from week to week as there are no rollovers.
RTP when first seeded
The return to player or RTP is a consistent 0.53.
Average RTP
The return to player or RTP for Thunderball is a consistent 0.53.
RTP when jackpot typically hit
The return to player or RTP is a consistent 0.53.
Best RTP
The return to player or RTP is a consistent 0.53.
Payouts and Taxes
Annuity vs Cash
The jackpot is a fixed prize for all players who guess the correct numbers and there are no taxes applicable.
Taxes
No taxes payable.
Summary
Jackpot alerts
This is more of a draw game than a lottery, especially as it doesn't have the rollover mechanics of a lottery nor the multimillion type prizes. It's a simple long odds type draw although there are better games out there in terms of RTP.
Pros
Accessible, frequent and reasonable payouts. No sharing of the jackpot prize which is good too. Sells well and does have the appeal of simplicity.
Cons
Low and fixed jackpots and a 47% margin is quite high for a draw product like this.
Verdict
Nothing too exciting! See other reviews for lotteries with better value and check out our preferred agents page too for where to play online.