Cornwall and Somerset celebrate as they strike gold in August’s Premium Bonds draw
A woman from Cornwall (Bond number: 251SW073009), with a Bond holding of £50,000 and a man from Somerset (Bond number: 73TQ908838), with a Bond holding of £31,225 make up August’s jackpot winners. Interestingly, the winner from Cornwall had purchased her Premium Bonds as recently as July 2015, confirming that even newly eligible Bonds entered into the draw have an equal chance of winning a prize.
The Cornwall win makes it third time lucky for the county, with the last million pound prize being won in 2015, while the county of Somerset notches up its fifth Premium Bonds millionaire winner, with the last million pound prize being won in 2011.
This month’s millionaires are ERNIE’s 343rd and 344th jackpot winners.
Jill Waters, NS&I’s Retail Director, said:
“One of this month’s Premium Bonds winners highlights that it doesn’t make a difference how old or new your Premium Bonds are for the chance to win a prize. Each Bond has an equal chance of winning regardless of when it was bought.
”Each month, ERNIE makes Premium Bonds holders across the land very happy by randomly selecting their Bond numbers to win tax-free prizes. For some, the prizes won help them to either achieve a life dream or go some way to helping them to save for their financial future.”
For the August 2016 prize draw, ERNIE paid out over two million prizes of more than £64 million in value. There were 62,166,969,712 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.
This brings the grand total of prizes since the first draw in June 1957 to 349 million and the value of those prizes to £16.8 billion.
There may be over two million Premium Bonds prizes paid out in this month alone, however there are a number of Premium Bonds holders who have won in previous draws but are unaware that they have tax-free prizes waiting to be claimed. Overall, there are over 1.2 million unclaimed prizes, worth over £53 million, and this has filtered down into the two counties. There is a £5,000 prize in Cornwall waiting to be claimed, won by a man with just £30 invested in Premium Bonds with the prize won back in January 2000. There are also a number of £1,000 unclaimed prizes in Somerset.
There is no time limit for claiming prizes, with some unclaimed prizes going back over 50 years. In Cornwall, for example, there is a £25 tax-free prize owing to a woman in the county. The prize was won in November 1966 and she has just £1 invested. Similarly in Somerset, the oldest prize, also £25, is 45 years old, won by a man with just a £1 holding in Premium Bonds.
Premium Bonds prizes may become unclaimed as a result of NS&I not being informed of changes to your personal circumstances, such as a change in contact or address details or if Premium Bonds were bought for you as a child and you have subsequently lost track of them. So it’s important to keep NS&I up to date if anything changes.
Jill Waters, NS&I’s Retail Director, continued:
“Premium Bonds have been a very popular product for almost 60 years but as we see every month, there are still prizes won from Bonds that were bought from 1956 onwards. There is a misconception that old Bonds are left out of the draw, but winning numbers are generated randomly and then matched against eligible Bond numbers afterwards. Numbers are not entered into or stored in ERNIE so there is no way that any Bonds can be left out of the draw.”
Premium Bonds holders can also reduce the chance of their prizes becoming unclaimed by registering to have any prizes paid directly into their bank account (with notification by email).
There are many ways that Premium Bonds holders can check if they have won a prize. Customers can keep a track of their Premium Bonds by using the prize checker on nsandi.com or they can use the PB Prize Checker App to find out instantly if their bonds have won a prize or a prize in the past six months, as well as any prizes older than 18 months you haven’t claimed since your Bonds first entered the draw. The Premium Bonds app is available from the Apple App Store or Google Play, and is free to download.
August 2016 Premium Bonds prize draw breakdown
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 2 |
| £50,000 | 6 |
| £25,000 | 10 |
| £10,000 | 24 |
| £5,000 | 50 |
| £1,000 | 1,294 |
| £500 | 3,882 |
| £100 | 66,082 |
| £50 | 66,082 |
| £25 | 1,934,798 |
|
Total prize fund value £64,757,250 |
Total number of prizes 2,072,232 |
Notes to Editors
- To protect winners’ anonymity and help keep their personal details confidential, NS&I only lists an area where there are at least 100,000 Premium Bonds holders resident.
- There are over 9,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in Somerset, worth more than £349,000. In Cornwall, there are also over 9,000 unclaimed prizes, worth more than £365,000.
- All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
- This month’s jackpot winners become ERNIE’S 343rd and 344th Premium Bonds millionaires.
- The annual Premium Bonds prize fund rate is currently 1.25% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning a prize are 30,000 to 1.
- Unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes are defined as prizes over 18 months that have not been paid out (cashed). Addresses held for customers with unclaimed prizes might not be the current residential address of the customer.
- Pictures of ERNIE (including the new 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 0500 500 000. This is a free phone number but calls from mobiles and some landline providers may be chargeable. 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: @nsandi or join the conversation on Facebook: Premium Bonds made by ERNIE