ERNIE unites East and West in July’s Premium Bonds prize draw
A man from Suffolk bought his winning Bond in June 2017, the 60th anniversary of the first Premium Bonds prize draw. This prize-winning lump-sum investment of £40,000 brought his total investment up to the maximum investment of £50,000. His Bonds would not have been eligible until the draw in August 2017, so within just 11 months ERNIE has generated a match for him to hit the jackpot. (Bond number: 305QA758516).
Meanwhile, Wales may be supplying many British cyclists for Team Sky at this year’s Tour de France, however a Premium Bond holder in South West Wales has an extra reason to celebrate this month as Agent Million will be delivering some good news. The man from South West Wales becomes the fifth jackpot winner from the region since the £1 million prize was introduced in 1994. His winning Bond was purchased in March 2010 (Bond number: 166LV246433).
Agent Million will be visiting these lucky Premium Bond holders to let them know that they are the 389th and 390th winners of the £1 million jackpot prize.
This month, ERNIE is also paying out over three million other prizes to Premium Bond holders, 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 visit the prize checker at nsandi.com. The results will be published in full on Monday 2 July.
View the Premium Bonds prize checker online
Paperwork weighing you down? Get your prizes paid automatically
Both of this month’s winners are signed up to receive their prizes electronically, with the winner from Suffolk signed up to have prizes paid directly into his bank account and the winner from South West Wales opted to have his prizes reinvested into Premium Bonds.
Jill Waters, Retail Director at NS&I, said:
“I’m delighted for our two jackpot winners and all of our customers who are receiving a boost this month. Whatever you have won, get in touch through our Facebook page and share the winning feeling.
“We want to make sure that all those winning prizes get to experience that special moment, but Premium Bonds prizes may go unclaimed as a result of not informing NS&I of changes to customers’ personal circumstances. This can be change in contact or address details or if Premium Bonds were bought as a child and the customer has subsequently lost track of them, so it’s important to keep us up to date of any changes.
“Each month we stress the importance of customers keeping their details up to date, and it’s reassuring to see that more and more people are signing up to have their prizes received electronically.”
"Customers can opt to have their prizes paid directly into their bank account, or to have their prizes auto-reinvested to be eligible for the next Premium Bonds draw, as long as the total holding is below the maximum threshold of £50,000. More information about these options are available on nsandi.com”
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It pays to keep your details up to date
There are just under 1.5 million unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth over £59 million.
There are over 13,000 unclaimed prizes in Suffolk, with one £25 prize dating back to May 1967. There are also nine unclaimed prizes worth £1,000 each. One of these £1,000 unclaimed prizes dates back to May 1986, won by a Premium Bond holder who has just £3 invested in Premium Bonds.
There are just over 8,500 unclaimed prizes worth over £300,000 for Premium Bond holders from South West Wales. These date back to October 1965. There are 5 prizes of £1,000 still to be claimed, and a £5,000 prize won in September 2014. This person has £30,000 invested in Premium Bonds.
July 2018 prize draw breakdown
| Value of prize | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 5 |
| £50,000 | 9 |
| £25,000 | 20 |
| £10,000 | 47 |
| £5,000 | 97 |
| £1,000 | 1,761 |
| £500 | 5,283 |
| £100 | 24,177 |
| £50 | 24,177 |
| £25 | 3,026,630 |
| Total prize fund value £88,099,800 |
Total number of prizes 3,082,208 |
In the July 2018 draw, a total of 3,082,208 prizes worth £88,099,800 will be paid out. There were 75,514,119,546 eligible Bonds for the draw.
Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE has drawn more than 407 million winning prizes, to the value of around £18.5 billion.
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 Bonds prize winners at nsandi.com/winning-stories
- All Premium Bonds 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 Bonds 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