Agent Million delivers good news to the south coast of England this Easter
The man from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight has won the £1 million jackpot from a reinvested prize of £50, which was won in August 2008 (Bond number: 141JM676632). He currently has £30,725 invested in Premium Bonds and while he continues to have his prizes reinvested, it will be Agent Million who will be visiting him to inform him of his latest windfall.
The man has become the ninth jackpot winner from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, just over a year since the last time Agent Million visited the region in January 2017.
The Dorset winner has £38,320 invested in Premium Bonds, and his winning Bond was purchased in January 2014 as part of a £27,800 investment (Bond number: 216YS216548). The last jackpot win in Dorset was just under a year ago in July 2017, and this win is the eighth overall in the county.
The pair are the 383rd and 384th lucky recipients of ERNIE’s top Premium Bonds prize.
Jill Waters, Retail Director at NS&I, said:
“While the Easter period consists of chocolate eggs for many of us, two of our Premium Bond holders will be building upon their nest eggs with help from ERNIE, our Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.
“Since the introduction of the £1 million jackpot, reinvested prizes of £25 or £50 have generated at least seven of the 384 winners. Each month, more than 99% of all the prizes paid out are worth either £25 or £50, so reinvesting your wins could lead to life-changing success thanks to ERNIE.”
Can ERNIE help build your own nest egg this Easter?
As well as the two jackpot winners this April, ERNIE is also paying out over 3 million other prizes, ranging from £25 to £100,000.
Customers can find out if they have been successful in this month’s draw by downloading the prize checker app for free from the App Store or Google Play or using the prize checker on nsandi.com. The results will be published in full on Wednesday 4 April.
Unclaimed prizes – are you owed some money?
There are currently around 1.4 million unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, worth over £58 million.
In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight alone, there are around 40,000 unclaimed prizes worth over £1.5 million, dating back to August 1963. There are 29 unclaimed prizes worth £1,000 each, with 16 of these prizes having been won by customers with less than £50 invested in Premium Bonds.
In Dorset, there are around 17,000 unclaimed prizes worth over £650,000, dating back to February 1964. Dorset has 19 unclaimed prizes worth £1,000 each, with 9 of these having been won by customers with less than £50 invested in Premium Bonds.
Jill Waters continued:
“Reinvesting prizes is one of the ways that customers can avoid Premium Bonds prizes going unclaimed. Over 1.8 million customers currently have their prizes reinvested, and in March 2018, 25% of prizes paid out were auto-reinvested into customers’ Premium Bonds accounts.
“Customers can also opt to have their prizes paid directly to their nominated bank account, with over 1.7 million Premium Bond holders now choosing this option.”
Customers can opt to have their prizes auto-reinvested until they reach the maximum investment limit of £50,000. To find out more about having prizes reinvested, or opting to have prizes paid directly to their nominated bank account, customers can visit the NS&I website.
Register and manage your Premium Bonds account online
April 2018 prize draw breakdown
In the April 2018 draw, a total of 3,023,387 prizes worth £ 86,418,475 will be paid out. There were 74,072,980,421 eligible Bonds for the draw.
Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE has drawn 398 million winning prizes, to the value of £18.2 billion.
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 5 |
| £50,000 | 9 |
| £25,000 | 18 |
| £10,000 | 46 |
| £5,000 | 92 |
| £1,000 | 1,728 |
| £500 | 5,184 |
| £100 | 23,709 |
| £50 | 23,709 |
| £25 | 2,968,885 |
| Total prize fund value
£86,418,475 |
Total number of prizes
3,023,387 |
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 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 1.40% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning any prize are 24,500 to 1.
- Pictures of Premium Bonds, including the Premium Bonds app and ERNIE 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 freephone number and calls to it from the UK are free from both landlines and mobiles. Calls may be recorded. Customers can also buy by post. Existing customers can also buy by bank transfer and standing order and each investment must be at least £50 for bank transfers and standing orders.
- When reporting total unclaimed assets held by NS&I (including accounts, Certificates, Bonds, unclaimed Premium Bond prizes and other products), NS&I defines unclaimed holdings as those with no customer contact for a period of 15 years or more.
- Further information on NS&I, including press releases and product information, is available on the website at nsandi.com. Follow us on Twitter: @nsandi or join the conversation on Facebook: Premium Bonds made by ERNIE