Thunderball Odds and Prizes
There are nine Thunderball prizes, including a jackpot of £500,000 for matching all five main numbers and the Thunderball. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 8,060,598, while the odds of landing any prize are 1 in 13. Find out more about the different ways to win.
Thunderball Prize Breakdown
All the payouts for Thunderball are fixed amounts, so you know exactly how much you stand to receive for each winning combination. You just need to match the Thunderball to be guaranteed a prize; the minimum award of £3 gets you a threefold return on the cost of entry. The table below shows all the Thunderball prizes and odds of winning.
| Prize Category | Odds of Winning | Prize Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Match 5 + Thunderball | 1 in 8,060,598 | £500,000 | |
| Match 5 | 1 in 620,046 | £5,000 | |
| Match 4 + Thunderball | 1 in 47,416 | £250 | |
| Match 4 | 1 in 3,648 | £100 | |
| Match 3 + Thunderball | 1 in 1,437 | £20 | |
| Match 3 | 1 in 111 | £10 | |
| Match 2 + Thunderball | 1 in 135 | £10 | |
| Match 1 + Thunderball | 1 in 35 | £5 | |
| Thunderball | 1 in 29 | £3 | |
| The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 13 | |||
Your Thunderball number cannot be substituted with any of your main numbers. For example, if the winning Thunderball is 1, you must have that same number as your Thunderball to win. If you have selected the number 1 among your main numbers but not as your Thunderball, you have not matched the Thunderball.
You only win a prize for matching two of the main numbers if your Thunderball also matches the winning Thunderball number. Without matching the Thunderball number, you must match at least three other numbers to win a prize.
Prize Capping
Thunderball prizes can be capped in extremely rare circumstances, resulting in the payouts being slightly lower than advertised in some or all categories. For prizes to be capped, the total value of the payouts would need to be worth more than four times the receipts from ticket sales. If that happens, a calculation is applied to determine which tiers need to be capped to bring the overall prize fund below the threshold.
For prize capping to come into effect there would need to be a far greater number of winners than is usually the case. Even when there were five winners of the jackpot on 17th December 2011, for example, players in all categories still received the advertised winnings. The total prize fund for that draw was worth £4.2 million.