NS&I winner scoops £1m jackpot one year after buying Premium Bonds | Personal Finance | Finance
One of this month’s NS&I Premium Bonds savers scooped the million-pound jackpot just months after buying the bond.
The Derbyshire winner bought the lucky bond, 535MK963637, in March 2023, becoming the first person to win NS&I’s jackpot in October.
The second winner, a bondholder from Gloucestershire, purchased their lucky bond, 203JB525288, in February 2023. Both winners had £50,000 and £29,000 invested in Premium Bonds respectively at the time of their win.
But there were also some other notable winners from this month’s draw, NS&I has said.
One Bond holder scooped a £100,000 prize with only £275 invested in Premium Bonds. Another won a prize from a Bond purchased in 1977.
Andrew Westhead, retail director at NS&I, said: “Congratulations to our newest Premium Bonds millionaires from Derbyshire and Gloucestershire. I’m sure these wins will help to bring some autumnal cheer to our lucky Bond holders.
“But it’s not just about our jackpot winners though – this month saw one £100,000 prize go to a holder with just £275 invested, and another to a winner who bought their winning bond 47 years ago back in July 1977.
“This shows that all eligible £1 Premium Bonds, regardless of when they were bought, have an equal chance of winning.”
How do Premium Bond prizes work?
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, serving over 24 million customers. It’s backed by HM Treasury and all products offer 100 percent security.
Premium Bonds are one of NS&I’s savings products. Investor’s money is entered into a monthly prize draw, offering tax-free cash prizes ranging from £25 to £1million, rather than earning traditional interest.
To participate in prize draws, savers must purchase Premium Bonds with a minimum investment of £25. Up to £50,000 can be invested, and winners are selected in a random draw at the start of each month.
Prizes are tax-free and divided into three value bands: higher, medium, and lower, and each band receives a percentage of the monthly prize fund.
Higher band prizes range from £5,000 to £1million (with only two £1million prizes), while the medium and lower bands offer prizes between £1,000 and £500, and £100 and £25, respectively.
Currently, the annual prize fund rate for Premium Bonds is 4.4 percent and the odds of any £1 Bond number winning a prize are 21,000 to one. However, the more Bonds a person holds, the greater their chance of winning a prize, NS&I says.
A total of 5,991,306 prizes worth £461,330,525 have been paid out in October’s draw.
Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in June 1957, around 719 million prizes have been drawn with a combined value of £33billion – with £3billion since April this year.
Premium Bonds winners are usually notified when they win a prize if their contact details are up to date, or holders can easily check potential winnings via the NS&I website, the prize checker app, or simply by asking Alexa.
People can also check for any unclaimed prizes owed to them. According to NS&I, there are currently 2,459,320 unclaimed prizes worth £88,403,850 waiting to be claimed.
