Australian Powerball, Start to Finish

Last updated: Jul 26, 2026, 7:53 PM ET

If you searched for Powerball and landed on a page about five numbers and a Monday night draw, you were reading about a different country. Australian Powerball is its own game with its own barrels, its own Thursday draw and its own tax treatment, and this hub covers only that game. Below you will find a live countdown to the next Australian Powerball draw on your own clock, the nine divisions in full, and which operator runs the game in your state or territory.

What Makes Australian Powerball a Different Game

Two barrels decide every Australian Powerball entry. The first holds 35 balls numbered 1 to 35, and 7 of them come out as the winning numbers. The second holds 20 balls numbered 1 to 20, and one of them comes out as the Powerball. A standard entry is therefore 7 numbers plus a Powerball — eight decisions, not six. Matching all eight is Division 1, and the odds of that are 1 in 134,490,400.

The American game people keep confusing this with works differently at every step: five numbers from a pool of 69, one Powerball from a pool of 26, draws on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and nine fixed prize tiers rather than nine divisions. Its jackpot odds are 1 in 292,201,338 and its prizes are taxed at both federal and state level. If that is the game you actually want, our United States Powerball checker covers it in full. If you bought your entry at a newsagency in Sydney, Perth or Adelaide, stay here.

Australian Powerball against the United States game
	Australian Powerball	United States Powerball
Main numbers	7 from 1–35	5 from 1–69
Powerball	1 from 1–20	1 from 1–26
Draw night	Thursday, 6:30pm AWST	Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, 10:59 p.m. ET
Prize structure	9 divisions	9 fixed prize tiers
Top prize odds	1 in 134,490,400	1 in 292,201,338
Tax on the prize	Not taxed as income	Federal plus state tax

Who Runs Australian Powerball in Your State

There is no single national seller. The Lott’s games can be purchased in all Australian states and territories excluding Western Australia. Western Australia is served instead by Lotterywest, the only state-owned and operated lottery in australia — a statutory authority that has supported the Western Australian community since 1933 and sits entirely outside The Lott. That split is the single most useful thing to recognise about Australian Powerball administration, because it decides where you buy, where you check and where you claim.

Australian Powerball operators by state and territory
State or territory	Operator	Group
ACT — Australian Capital Territory	NSW Lotteries	The Lott
NSW — New South Wales	NSW Lotteries	The Lott
NT — Northern Territory	Tatts NT	The Lott
QLD — Queensland	Golden Casket	The Lott
SA — South Australia	SA Lotteries	The Lott
TAS — Tasmania	Tatts	The Lott
VIC — Victoria	Tatts	The Lott
WA — Western Australia	Lotterywest	Lotterywest

Prizes can only be claimed from the state in which the ticket was purchased. If you drive from Eucla to Ceduna and buy an entry on each side of the border you are dealing with two organisations, and each will only pay out on its own ticket. Keep the entry that belongs to the state you can actually get back to. This is worth organising before a draw rather than after one.

The Nine Divisions, in Short

Australian Powerball pays nine divisions rather than one prize. Division 1 asks for 7 winning numbers plus the powerball. Division 9, the entry level, asks only for 2 winning numbers plus the powerball at odds of 1 in 65 — which is why the overall odds of winning something on one standard game come out near 1 in 44. The ladder is not a straight line: four numbers with the Powerball outrank five numbers without it. Our Powerball divisions page lays out all nine with a match matrix so you can find your own line without doing the arithmetic.

Division 1 carries a published minimum of $4,000,000 and jackpots to the following draw when nobody takes it. We do not print a dollar figure for the other eight divisions anywhere on this site, because no operator publishes one as a fixed amount — the number changes with the pool and the number of winning entries, and inventing one would be worse than leaving it out.

Why an Australian Powerball Prize Is Not Taxed

In Australia lottery winnings are classified as tax-free income. The ATO lists prizes won in ordinary lotteries, such as lotto draws and raffles, under amounts you do not include as income. That is the sharpest single difference between Australian Powerball and the American game, where a jackpot loses roughly a quarter to mandatory federal withholding before a state takes its own share. There are two genuine caveats and we spell both out on the Australian Powerball tax page: interest the banked prize earns is ordinary taxable income, and a prize can affect Centrelink social security entitlements.

The 2018 Change That Reshaped Australian Powerball

The game you play now started at draw 1144 on Thursday 19 April 2018. Before that draw, Australian Powerball took 6 numbers from a barrel of 40 and paid 8 divisions, with overall odds of 1 in 78. After it, the barrel shrank to 35 and the draw grew to 7 numbers. The overall odds improved from 1 in 78 to 1 in 44 through the introduction of division nine. In Western Australia the change was enacted by the Lotteries Commission (Authorised Lotteries) (Powerball) Amendment Rules 2018, gazetted 10 April 2018 at Government Gazette pages 1249-53. If you find an older article quoting eight divisions or 1 in 78, it is describing the pre-2018 game.

Australian Powerball at a glance

Main numbers: 7 drawn from a barrel of 35 (1–35)
Powerball: 1 drawn from a barrel of 20 (1–20)
Standard entry: 7 numbers plus one Powerball
Draw: Every Thursday at 6:30pm AWST
Divisions: 9, from 7 winning numbers plus the Powerball down to 2 winning numbers plus the Powerball
Division 1 odds: 1 in 134,490,400
Overall odds: 1 in 44 on one standard game
Division 1 minimum: $4,000,000 AUD, jackpotting when not won
Tax on the prize: Not included as income by the ATO
Operators: The Lott in every state and territory except WA; Lotterywest in WA

Verified 2026-07-27 Source: Lotterywest — Powerball game page

Questions Australian Players Ask

Is Australian Powerball the same game as American Powerball?

No. They share a name and nothing else that matters. Australian Powerball draws 7 winning numbers from a barrel of 35 plus one Powerball from a barrel of 20, every Thursday, and pays across nine divisions. The American game draws 5 numbers from 1 to 69 plus one Powerball from 1 to 26 on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. A ticket for one is worthless against the other.

What time is the Australian Powerball draw?

The draw is held every Thursday at 6:30pm AWST, which is the same instant as approximately 8:30pm AEST on the eastern seaboard. Full timing, including entry cutoffs, is on our Australian Powerball draw times page.

How many divisions does Australian Powerball have?

Nine. Division 1 needs all 7 winning numbers plus the powerball at odds of 1 in 134,490,400, and Division 9 needs 2 winning numbers plus the powerball. The overall odds of taking any division are about 1 in 44 on one standard game.

Do I pay tax on an Australian Powerball prize?

The prize itself is not taxed. The Australian Taxation Office lists prizes won in ordinary lotteries, such as lotto draws and raffles, among the amounts you do not include as income. Interest the money later earns in a bank account is taxable, and a large prize can affect Centrelink entitlements.

Can I claim a Powerball prize in a different state from where I bought the entry?

No. Prizes can only be claimed from the state in which the ticket was purchased. That matters most on the Western Australian border, because WA is served by Lotterywest while every other state and territory is served by The Lott.