Tim Peake rockets winning streak for West Sussex as July’s Premium Bonds winners are announced
A female (Bond number: 185NY790207) is one of the lucky recipients of the £1 million top prize. The winner has £48,825 invested and purchased the winning Bond in October 2011. The other West Sussex jackpot winner, a male, also purchased his winning Bond in October 2011. He has a relatively low holding of £4,100 (Bond number: 185YB202680).
The two millionaires become the fifth and sixth winners of the jackpot in the West Sussex region, with the last million pound prize being won in the region in August 2014.
Alun Williams, NS&I’s Assistant Retail Director, said:
“ERNIE has made another new piece of Premium Bonds history, delivering double-luck in a single region for the second time this year. While Leicester City football club were Leicester’s lucky charm in January, West Sussex has also hit the news recently as their very own Tim Peake completed his successful space mission. Of course, wherever you live, Premium Bonds are a great way to save and every Bond number has the same chance of winning tax-free prizes.”
It is not just the two jackpot winners who have seen their luck come in, as ERNIE has given away over £64 million in tax-free prizes this month, ranging from £25 to £1 million.
Unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes:
Many more Premium Bonds holders in West Sussex are unaware of their luck, as there are over 17,000 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes totalling over £720,000. This includes a high value prize of £25,000 belonging to a male, who has a total Premium Bonds holding of £24,375 and purchased the winning Bond in April 2008 (Bond number: 106CV183276).
Premium Bonds prizes may be unclaimed as a result of NS&I not being updated with changes to customers’ personal circumstances, such as a change in contact details or losing track of their Bonds. NS&I is urging Premium Bonds holders to reduce the chance of their prizes becoming unclaimed by registering at nsandi.com to have any prizes paid directly into their bank account (with notification by email).
Alun Williams, NS&I’s Assistant Retail Director, continued:
“There are millions of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes across the UK, and West Sussex is home to just over 17,000 of those.That’s why we suggest that our customers sign up to manage Premium Bonds online and have any future prizes paid directly into their bank account – this way customers will also be able to access their winnings more quickly.”
Premium Bonds holders can keep track of their prizes by using the NS&I Premium Bonds prize checker app, which is free to download, and lets customers check if they’ve won a prize in the past six months. Customers can also check if they have won a prize by using the Premium Bonds prize checker on nsandi.com.
This month’s millionaires are ERNIE’s 341st and 342nd Premium Bonds jackpot winners.
For the July 2016 prize draw, ERNIE paid out over 2 million prizes of more than £64 million in value. There were 61,836,285,491 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.
This brings the grand total of prizes since the first draw in June 1957 to £347 million and the value of those prizes to £16.7 billion.
Prize and value breakdown in July 2016
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 2 |
| £50,000 | 6 |
| £25,000 | 9 |
| £10,000 | 25 |
| £5,000 | 49 |
| £1,000 | 1,288 |
| £500 | 3,864 |
| £100 | 65,737 |
| £50 | 65,737 |
| £25 | 1,924,490 |
|
Total prize fund value £64,412,800 |
Total number of prizes 2,061,209 |
From 1 June 2016, the prize fund rate on Premium Bonds was reduced from 1.35% to 1.25%. See more information here.
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.
- All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax
- This month’s jackpot winners become ERNIE’S 341st and 342nd 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