Third Premium Bonds jackpot win for Wiltshire in 2018, while Barnet strikes it lucky for the first time in eight years

Wiltshire is becoming a regular visiting spot for Agent Million, who will be travelling to the county for the third time in 2018, to deliver more good news. Agent Million has now visited Wiltshire eight times since the jackpot prize was introduced in 1994, meaning that over a third (38%) of Wiltshire’s total Premium Bonds jackpot winners have come in 2018.

The winner from Wiltshire is a woman who has £50,000 invested in Premium Bonds. She originally had £1,100 before investing to the maximum holding just two years ago in March 2016. The winning Bond number is 269AV661906.

Barnet sees its first jackpot winner in around eight years, with the last prize being won in August 2010. This is the fourth winner overall in the London borough. The winner from Barnet, also female, currently has £20,000 invested in Premium Bonds. Originally holding £1,000, she invested a lump sum of £19,000 into Premium Bonds in February 2011. The winning Bond number is 177KW885582.

The pair are the 385th and 386th lucky recipients of the top Premium Bonds prize.

Jill Waters, NS&I’s Retail Director, said:

“Both winners this month had around £1,000 in Premium Bonds before investing the lump sums that have won them each £1 million, however Barnet’s winner did not need to invest to the full £50,000 to hit the jackpot.

“While investing to the maximum increases your chances of winning, Barnet’s winner shows that you don’t need the maximum invested in Premium Bonds in order to strike lucky."

Since the maximum investment limit was increased to £50,000 in August 2015, only ten of a possible 68 jackpot winners have had the full £50,000 invested in Premium Bonds. The average amount invested for winning the £1 million prize since August 2015 is just over £28,000.

Winning with ERNIE

While Agent Million is busy delivering the jackpot prizes, ERNIE has also drawn over three million other prizes this May, making it a great start to the summer months for many more Premium Bond holders.

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 2 May.

Download the prize checker app 

Use the prize checker on nsandi.com 

Unclaimed prizes – are you due a Premium Bonds windfall?

Premium Bonds prizes may go unclaimed as a result of NS&I not being informed of changes to your personal circumstances, such as a change in contact details or if Premium Bonds were bought for you as a child and you have subsequently lost track of them. It is important therefore, to keep NS&I up to date if anything changes. In total, there are 1.4 million prizes that remain unclaimed worth more than £58.6 million.

In Wiltshire, unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes date back to 1961. The highest unclaimed Premium Bonds prize is £5,000, won back in October 2014. There are seven unclaimed prizes worth £1,000, won as far back as October 1988. Overall, there are around 9,000 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes in Wiltshire, worth over £330,000.

Unclaimed prizes in Barnet date back to April 1962. There is a £10,000 prize waiting to be claimed, won in August 2012. The lucky winner of this windfall has just £200 invested in Premium Bonds.

There are also two £5,000 prizes and ten £1,000 prizes, of which five have been won by those with holdings of less than £100. There are around 18,000 unclaimed prizes in total in Barnet, worth over £735,000.

Customers can opt to have their prizes paid directly into their bank account, or to have their prizes auto-reinvested into their Premium Bonds account, as long as the total holding is below the maximum threshold of £50,000. More information about these options are available on the NS&I website.

Register and manage your Premium Bonds account online

May 2018 prize draw breakdown

In the May 2018 draw, a total of 3,043,434 prizes worth £86,991,450 will be paid out. There were 74,564,104,519 eligible Bonds for the draw.

Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE has drawn more than 400 million winning prizes, to the value of around £18.3 billion.

Notes to Editors

1. 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
2. You can read more about Premium Bonds prize winners at nsandi.com/winning-stories
3. All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Pictures of Premium Bonds, including the Premium Bonds app and ERNIE are available in high-resolution jpeg format from the NS&I media team.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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