Can Canadians Play Powerball? Buying, Claiming and Tax (2026)

Yes, Canadians can play Powerball, and a Canadian can win the jackpot. The catch is where you buy it. Powerball isn’t sold anywhere in Canada, so you need a ticket bought in person in a US state that sells it, and if you win, the IRS keeps 30% before you’re paid.

Since July 2026, people in the UK can buy into the Powerball jackpot at home, through the UK National Lottery. Canada isn’t part of that deal. Here’s how a Canadian can buy a ticket, and what a win is worth once both countries’ tax rules apply.

Can Canadians play Powerball?

Yes. Powerball says you don’t have to be a US citizen or resident to play. You have to buy the ticket in person from a licensed retailer in a state or territory that sells the game, and be old enough to buy one there. Then the ticket is as good as any American’s, jackpot included.

The wording comes straight from Powerball’s own FAQ (opens in a new tab): players from places where it isn’t sold can buy tickets “when visiting a selling jurisdiction” from a licensed retailer, “if they meet the legal age requirement in the jurisdiction of purchase.”

That covers a lot of places. All 48 US lotteries sell Powerball, which covers most states plus Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Every state along the land border sells it except Alaska, which has no lottery at all. A play costs $2 US, and the draws are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. Eastern.

Can you buy Powerball tickets online from Canada?

Not from the lotteries that run it. A few states sell Powerball online, but only to people in that state. Powerball says selling tickets across borders over the internet or by mail is restricted, and that lotteries “may refuse to pay out prize money on Powerball tickets purchased on any website other than their own.”

Keep that in mind when you search for Powerball from Canada. Most of the results, including sites with .ca addresses and Powerball in their name, are private resellers. No US lottery runs them, and they aren’t part of the Powerball game. They set their own prices, they buy or hold the ticket on your behalf, and any prize goes through them. If a lottery won’t pay a ticket bought that way, you’d be relying on a company in another country to make it right.

The legitimate route is the boring one: a ticket from a corner store, gas station or grocery store on your next trip south.

What happens if a Canadian wins Powerball?

You claim the prize in the state where you bought the ticket. Smaller prizes, up to $600, can be cashed at any retailer of that lottery. Bigger ones go to a lottery office or its headquarters. You have from 90 days to a year to claim, depending on the state, and the deadline is usually on the back of the ticket.

Sign the back of the ticket as soon as you realize it’s a winner, the same as you would with a Canadian win. Then check the selling lottery’s claim page before you travel, because each state sets its own forms and ID rules.

A jackpot comes with a choice Canadian lotteries don’t offer. You can take the annuity, which is one payment now and 29 more once a year, each 5% bigger than the last. Or you can take the cash value, a single payment that’s much smaller than the advertised jackpot, because the headline number is the annuity’s total.

Whether your name gets published depends on the state, not on where you live. Some states let winners stay private and others must release a winner’s name on request. Our state-by-state anonymity guide lists each one. Either way, Powerball says the lottery itself has to know who bought the ticket.

How much tax does a Canadian pay on Powerball winnings?

At least 30%. The IRS taxes a nonresident’s lottery prize at a flat 30% of the full amount, and the lottery takes it off before paying you. The state that sold the ticket usually taxes it as well. Canada doesn’t tax lottery winnings, so you owe the CRA nothing on the prize, and get nothing back from it either.

The IRS takes 30% off the top

IRS Publication 515 (opens in a new tab) sets the rate: nonresidents are subject to withholding “at 30% on the gross proceeds from gambling won in the United States.” A treaty can exempt you, and residents of the UK, France, Germany, Japan and about 20 other countries pay nothing. Canada isn’t on that list.

The one break Canadians get is small. The IRS lets residents of Canada (opens in a new tab) deduct gambling losses from the same year against their winnings, which nonresidents from most countries can’t. You’d file a US return, Form 1040-NR, and you’d need a US taxpayer number to do it, called an ITIN, which you apply for with Form W-7 (opens in a new tab). On a big prize, a year of losing tickets barely changes the bill.

Then the state takes its share

Most states tax a prize from their own lottery, whoever wins it. Here’s the state tax in each state along the land border, from each state’s own tax law.

Where it says “up to,” the rate climbs with the size of the prize. New York’s 10.9% only starts at $25 million. New York City adds its own tax, but only for people who live there. Every state’s rate, and what each one withholds at the counter, is in our US lottery tax guide.

So where you buy changes what you keep. Take a $1 million cash prize. If you bought it in Washington, the IRS takes $300,000 and the state takes nothing, so you keep $700,000 US. If you bought it in Michigan, the state’s 4.25% takes another $42,500, and you keep $657,500 US.

And nothing from Canada

The CRA’s Income Tax Folio S3-F9-C1 (opens in a new tab) says a lottery prize “is not taxable as either a capital gain or income.” That holds for a prize won in the US. What the money earns once it’s home is taxable, like any interest or investment income. Our guide to lottery winnings and Canadian tax covers the exceptions.

The flip side is that a Canadian win would have been yours in full. The US tax is simply the cost of playing a US game.

Powerball or Lotto Max: which is the better bet for a Canadian?

On the odds, Lotto Max, by a lot. Its jackpot odds are 1 in 33.4 million, about nine times better than Powerball’s 1 in 292.2 million. Its jackpot is smaller, capped at $90 million, but it’s paid as one amount, and Canada doesn’t tax it.

Powerball’s draw is the jackpot that makes the news, and its records run past $2 billion US. But that headline is the annuity’s total before any tax. A Canadian who takes the cash and pays the IRS keeps well under half of it, and that’s before the state’s share. Lotto Max’s biggest win so far, the $80.4 million two Ontario friends claimed in April 2026, was paid in one amount with nothing taken off.

If you buy Canadian tickets anyway, our Lotto Max vs Lotto 6/49 comparison sets out which one gives you better odds for your money.

A cash draw with no border to cross

Lodavo is a free savings app with a draw every week, open to adults across Canada. Every $25 you have saved earns a ticket, at least $100 goes to a winner every week, and you could win up to $10,000.

There’s nothing to stake and something to win. You never buy a ticket, so the money you save stays yours whether you win or not, and you can track it growing from one week to the next.

Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and earn your first tickets before this week’s draw.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.