The UK government has proposed prohibiting licensed gambling operators in Great Britain from offering third-party bets on Powerball draws, seeking to align the game with other National Lottery products.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has opened a six-week consultation on introducing a new license condition under Section 78(1) of the Gambling Act 2005. The consultation covers the UK and closes at 23:59 on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.
Powerball joined the National Lottery portfolio on July 21, 2026, when operator Allwyn UK introduced the game outside the United States for the first time. However, a “small number” of gambling operators had already been offering UK customers bets on the outcome of the underlying US draw.
Section 95 of the Gambling Act prohibits betting license holders from offering bets on lotteries that form part of the National Lottery, including Lotto, EuroMillions and Thunderball. The restriction does not currently capture Powerball because the underlying US draw is not itself part of the UK National Lottery.
Operators would remain able to offer bets to consumers in Great Britain on other lotteries that do not form part of the National Lottery, for example the Irish Lotto. The proposed condition would specifically target betting on Powerball and would bring its treatment more closely into line with other National Lottery draw-based games.
“To continue to preserve this clear boundary between the National Lottery and gambling that Section 95 of the Gambling Act seeks to achieve, and to prevent potential negative impact on National Lottery good cause returns, we propose introducing a licence condition to prohibit UK operators from offering bets on Powerball,” the consultation document reads.
The government said allowing official Powerball participation and third-party betting to coexist could confuse customers and reduce National Lottery returns to good causes. It cited evidence gathered before the 2018 prohibition on betting on non-UK EuroMillions draws, when voluntary industry action and Gambling Commission guidance failed to eliminate customer confusion.
The National Lottery generates around £1.8 billion ($2.38 billion) annually for arts, heritage, sport and community causes, with roughly 23% of product sales funding those areas. Third-party betting operators are not required, and do not generally, allocate proceeds from lottery bets to good causes.
Allwyn expects Powerball to generate an additional £1 billion ($1.32 billion) for good causes over the next five years. Its plans under the fourth National Lottery license include increasing good-cause funding to £60 million ($79 million) per week by 2034. The National Lottery, established in 1994, has generated more than £53 billion ($70 billion) for over 680,000 projects. It is not regulated as gambling under the Gambling Act 2005.
The government acknowledged that up-to-date evidence is limited on how many customers currently betting through third-party operators would switch to the National Lottery if those bets were prohibited. The consultation seeks evidence on that issue, as well as the likely impact on good-cause funding.
Other options considered included voluntary action by operators, requiring betting companies to contribute to good causes and banning bets on all lotteries. The government considered those approaches less effective or disproportionate.
The consultation also asks operators about the share of Gross Gambling Yield generated by Powerball betting, measures used to distinguish betting from official participation, and expected transition and familiarization costs.
Individuals are being asked whether they have placed third-party Powerball bets, how frequently they do so, how much they spend, and whether they would instead play through the National Lottery if such betting were prohibited.
Respondents must be aged 18 or over. The government is seeking a “wide range of views” from betting and lottery operators, players, organizations and other interested parties.