About Thunderball
Thunderball offers a guaranteed jackpot of £500,000 per winner, which means the prize is unattached from the number of the winner players. Thunderball started on 12th June 1999, and it was held only on Saturdays. The first Wednesday draw occurred on 30th October 2002. Since 14th May 2010, it is also held on Fridays. Finally, draws on Tuesdays started on 30th January 2018. So Thunderball draws take place four times per week.
Until 8th May 2010 the main ball range was from 1 to 34. Since 12th May 2010 the range is from 1 to 39.
How to play Thunderball
To play Thunderball, you have to select 5 main numbers and a Thunderball. The main numbers are between 1 and 39, the Thunderball is between 1 and 14. You hit the jackpot, if your 5 main numbers and your selected Thunderball gets drawn. To win the minimum prize, you need to hit at least the Thunderball.
Thunderball draws are held every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, at about 8:00 pm. If you win any prize, you have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim your prize.
Odds of Winning and Prize Breakdown
Thunderball prizes are fixed. It doesn’t matter how much winner tickets are in a draw, they all win the same prize every time. So the players no need to worry about the amount of jackpot because it is never split between multiple winners.
| Match | Odds of Winning | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 5 + 1 | 1 in 8,060,598 | £500,000 |
| 5 | 1 in 620,046 | £5,000 |
| 4 + 1 | 1 in 47,416 | £250 |
| 4 | 1 in 3,648 | £100 |
| 3 + 1 | 1 in 1,437 | £20 |
| 3 | 1 in 111 | £10 |
| 2 + 1 | 1 in 135 | £10 |
| 1 + 1 | 1 in 35 | £5 |
| 0 + 1 | 1 in 29 | £3 |
How to Improve My Chances of Winning the Thunderball Jackpot
We have some tips for increasing your chances of winning the Thunderball jackpot. You can examine which Thunderball numbers have been drawn the most and the least frequently on the Thunderball Number Frequency page.
Another useful statistics can be the Most Overdue Thunderball Numbers page.
Also improves your chances if you play combinations that have not been drawn before. You can check on the Thunderball Results Checker page whether you number combination have ever hit the jackpot