Hip, hip Harrow for Premium Bonds jackpot winners: Women in North London and East Sussex win April’s £1 million prizes
The woman from Harrow – with a holding of £40,000 – won from a Bond purchased in April 2014 (Bond number: 220QZ029789).
Although traditionally the third year anniversary gift is an item made of leather, the Bond holder will likely be happier with ERNIE’s present, delivered in person by Agent Million.
This three-year wait for the £1 million jackpot compares with just 11 months since the woman from East Sussex purchased her winning Bond (Bond number 272ZX585408) in May 2016, part of a total Premium Bond holding of £27,480.
Jill Waters, Retail Director at NS&I, said:
“It’s a welcome return to East Sussex for Agent Million, who last visited the county in November 2015. While London has been a regular recent destination, this month’s win shows that good things sometimes do come in threes, as the Harrow winner is the third person from the capital to scoop the top prize in 2017, having held the winning Bond for exactly three years.
“This month’s millionaires may have only held their winning Bonds for a short part of the 60-year history of Premium Bonds, but there are plenty of prizes won by Premium Bond holders every month who purchased their Bonds many years ago. For example, in March’s draw this year, a Premium Bond holder in Dorset won £5,000 from a £2 purchase in December 1956.”
With the launch of the new £1 coin this week, people are searching for the ‘old’ versions they have so they can use them before they go out of circulation in October. NS&I are encouraging people to see if they have another pleasant surprise in the form of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes.
Jill Waters continued:
“With the Easter holidays coming up, it’s a great opportunity to see if you have a hidden nest egg waiting to be found. More than 1.3 million Premium Bond prizes, dating back to 1957, remain unclaimed, worth £55.2 million.
“There is no time limit on claiming your prizes, so if you come across Premium Bonds paperwork while clearing out cupboards over the Easter weekend, you can check online at nsandi.com to see if they have won any prizes.”
Among the unclaimed prizes are 9,450 from Harrow, worth a total of £371,625. The oldest is from May 1964, worth £25, owed to a man with £98 worth of Premium Bonds, while there are three prizes of £1,000 that remain unclaimed.
In East Sussex, there are 20,195 unclaimed prizes worth a total of almost £800,000, including 25 worth £1,000 or more. Twelve of these prizes are for people who hold £15 or less in Premium Bonds, while the highest-value unclaimed prize worth £5,000 was drawn in July 2012 and is owed to a woman. The oldest unclaimed prize in the county dates back to July 1959, and is £25 due to a woman with just £5 invested.
2,268,165 prizes were paid out this month, worth £70,880,100, and there were 68,044,881,631 eligible Bond numbers in April’s draw. Since the first draw in June 1957 there have been 366 million prizes paid out worth £17.3 billion.
Bond holders can check to see if they have won a prize in this month’s draw, draws in the previous six months or if they have any unclaimed prizes from 18 months or more ago for free online at www.nsandi.com/prize-checker, or download the new and improved free Premium Bonds Prize Checker app from Google Play or the Apple Store.
They can also register at nsandi.com to manage their Bonds online and by phone, as well as choose to have any prizes they win in the future paid directly into their bank account or reinvested.
What would you do with £1 million? As part of Premium Bonds’ 60th anniversary, we want to hear your stories, whether it be the memories of buying your first Bonds or prizes won, no matter how big or small. Join the conversation on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or submit your story at http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PB60th
Prize and value breakdown in April 2017
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 3 |
| £50,000 | 6 |
| £25,000 | 13 |
| £10,000 | 31 |
| £5,000 | 62 |
| £1,000 | 1,417 |
| £500 | 4,251 |
| £100 | 72,331 |
| £50 | 72,331 |
| £25 | 2,117,718 |
|
Total prize fund value £70,880,100 |
Total number of prizes 2,268,165 |
Notes to Editors
- NS&I has a wealth of facts and figures (including regional) about Premium Bonds. If you require any further details, please contact the NS&I media team or tweet your question to @nsandi
- You can read more about Premium Bond prize winners at www.nsandi.com/winning-stories
- All Premium Bond prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
- NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to 25 million customers. All products offer 100% capital security, because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
- The annual Premium Bonds prize fund rate is currently 1.25% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning any prize are 30,000 to 1. This will be changing for the May 2017 draw, when the prize fund rate will then become 1.15% but the odds of each individual Bond number winning a prize will remain the same 30,000 to 1.
- Pictures of ERNIE (including the ERNIE 4 machine), NS&I’s Agent Millions and people buying Premium Bonds are available in high-resolution jpeg format from the NS&I media team.
- Customers can buy Premium Bonds online at nsandi.com and over the phone by calling 08085 007 007. This is a new freephone number and calls to it from the UK are free from both landlines and mobiles. Telephone calls may be recorded.
- Further information on NS&I (National Savings and Investments), including press releases and product information, is available on the website at nsandi.com. Follow us on Twitter: @nsandior join the conversation on Facebook: Premium Bonds made by ERNIE