56.28%
Set For Life
Its current licence gives an average payout range of 50% to 56.28%, depending on the cost of the annuity premium. It is therefore not a fixed 56.28% game.
Lottery Money Comparison • Prize Return
Not all lottery tickets put the same share of sales into prizes. Compare the current payout rules for Lotto, Thunderball, Set For Life, EuroMillions, UK Powerball, U.S. Powerball and Mega Millions — without mixing game rules with whole-lottery annual accounts.
The answer depends on the metric
Its current licence gives an average payout range of 50% to 56.28%, depending on the cost of the annuity premium. It is therefore not a fixed 56.28% game.
Thunderball's 52% average is the highest single-number game-level payout in the current set compared here. Lotto, U.S. Powerball and Mega Millions are all at 50%. The combined UK EuroMillions purchase works out at about 43.92% under its current two-component structure, while UK Powerball's average is 41.2%.
But the whole UK National Lottery portfolio actually paid 55% of sales as prizes in the financial year ended 31 March 2025. That is an annual portfolio result — not a Lotto, EuroMillions or Thunderball payout rule — so it belongs in a separate comparison.
Like-for-like game comparison
This chart uses the current published average, rule-based or directly derived game-level figures. Set For Life is ranked by the upper end of its published range, but the range itself is shown prominently.
What each percentage actually means
| Lottery | Ticket | Prize payout | Measurement | Important caveat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set For Life (UK) | £1.50 | 50%–56.28% | Average prize payout range | Varies with the cost of the annuity premium and from draw to draw. |
| Thunderball (UK) | £1 | 52% | Average prize payout | Fixed-prize game; exact payout can vary by draw. |
| Lotto (UK) | £2 | 50% | Average sales eligible for prizes | 4.67% of total Lotto sales is placed in the Game Reserve Fund within that 50%. |
| Powerball (U.S.) | $2 | 50% | Prize funding share | Participating-lottery material states Powerball prizes equal 50% of sales. |
| Mega Millions (U.S.) | $5 | 50% | Sales paid back as prizes | Current official Mega Millions FAQ states 50% of sales are paid back to players in prizes. |
| EuroMillions + UK Millionaire Maker | £2.50 | 43.92% | MLL-derived combined current prize allocation | 50% of the £1.74 EuroMillions component plus 30% of the 76p Millionaire Maker component. |
| UK Powerball | £4 | 41.2% | Average prize payout | Current Gambling Commission licence; exact payout varies from draw to draw. |
The top prize is an annuity. Its cost changes, so the average prize payout percentage changes with the annuity premium.
The 50% rule applies to the £1.74 EuroMillions component. The compulsory 76p UK Millionaire Maker component currently allocates 30% to prizes.
A lower average payout percentage does not prevent enormous jackpots because prize structure and international jackpot pooling also matter.
Keep these figures in a different box
These figures are useful, but they do not belong in the game ranking above. They measure an actual whole portfolio or an operator's overall/current prize allocation rather than one draw game's licence formula.
The Gambling Commission says £4.351bn of £7.886bn in sales was paid as prizes in the year ended 31 March 2025 — 55p per £1.
Its current Prize Percentage is 40%; its published range permits no less than 35% and up to 40% of ticket sales for a draw.
The operator currently says 34% is spent on prizes across all games.
Turn the percentages into money
This calculator shows how much of a hypothetical block of ticket sales is allocated or expected to be paid as prizes under the selected game-level percentage. It does not predict what one player will win back.
Set For Life is shown as a range because the current licence says the average payout depends on the annuity premium.
Two numbers that answer different questions
How much of total sales is allocated or ultimately paid out as prizes across the game.
How likely one line or ticket is to win something — even if the prize is small.
How likely one line is to hit the top prize. This can be hundreds of millions to one even where 50% of sales funds prizes.
Money under the microscope
No. The 55% figure is the whole National Lottery's actual annual portfolio result for FY2024/25.
Not in the UK. The full purchase includes a 76p Millionaire Maker component with a different 30% prize payout.
No. Payout percentage and jackpot probability measure entirely different things.
Frequently asked questions
Click a question to reveal the answer.
There is no single honest answer unless the measurement basis is fixed. Among the current game-level figures compared here, Set For Life has a published average payout range of 50% to 56.28%, with the exact result depending partly on the cost of its annuity premium. Thunderball has a 52% average. The UK National Lottery as a whole actually paid 55% of sales as prizes in the year ended 31 March 2025, but that is a portfolio-level annual result rather than a single-game rule.
Its current licence gives the highest upper end among the game-level figures on this page: 56.28%. However, the published range begins at 50%, and the exact payout can vary from draw to draw, so it should not be presented as a fixed 56.28% return.
The current Gambling Commission licence says an average of 52% of Thunderball sales will be eligible to be paid out as prizes. Because Thunderball uses fixed prizes, the exact payout percentage can vary from draw to draw.
The current June 2026 Lotto licence says that, on average, 50% of Lotto sales will be eligible to be paid out as prizes. Within that 50%, 9.34% — equal to 4.67% of total Lotto sales — is placed in the Game Reserve Fund.
A UK EuroMillions purchase costs £2.50 but contains two components: £1.74 for EuroMillions and 76p for UK Millionaire Maker. The main game allocates 50% to its prize fund and Millionaire Maker currently allocates 30%. Combined, that equals £1.098, or about 43.92% of the full £2.50 purchase.
The current UK Powerball licence states an average prize payout of 41.2%. The exact payout can vary from draw to draw because the game contains both fixed and pari-mutuel prizes.
Participating-lottery material states that Powerball prizes equal 50% of Powerball sales. The actual payout in an individual draw can differ because money moves through jackpot, set-prize and reserve pools.
Mega Millions currently states that 50% of its sales are paid back to players in prizes.
No. Payout percentage measures how much of ticket sales is allocated or ultimately paid as prizes. Odds measure how likely a ticket is to win. Prize size, jackpot rollovers, fixed-prize structures and the number of prize tiers can all change the relationship between the two.
No. It is a long-run or accounting measure across many ticket sales, not a refund to each player. One player can receive nothing while another wins a very large prize.
The Gambling Commission's 55% figure is the actual percentage of all National Lottery sales paid out as prizes in the financial year ended 31 March 2025. It mixes the entire portfolio of draw games, Scratchcards and other National Lottery products, so it is not directly equivalent to a single game's licence payout percentage.
People's Postcode Lottery currently says its Prize Percentage is 40% of ticket sales for a draw, with its rules allowing a prize percentage of up to 40% and no less than 35%.
The Health Lottery currently states that, across all games, 34% is spent on prizes, 20% goes to good causes and 46% is spent on expenses, while noting that actual expenses exceed that figure.
Use like-for-like figures. Compare game-level average or rule-based payout percentages with other game-level figures. Keep whole-operator annual results and portfolio-wide percentages in a separate table. That is the approach used on this page.
Primary research
MLL prioritises current regulator and operator sources. Game-level figures are kept separate from completed-year portfolio results so that the comparison does not create false precision.