New millionaire from overseas in October's Premium Bonds draw

For the October 2012 draw ERNIE paid out over 1.8 million prizes, together amounting to over £55 million in value. There were 44,068,653,070 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.

October's Premium Bond millionaire

  • A man living overseas
  • Bond Number: 176ND537520
  • Winning Bond bought in January 2011
  • Total holdings £30,000

For the October 2012 draw ERNIE paid out over 1.8 million prizes, together amounting to over £55 million in value. There were 44,068,653,070 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.

Prize and value breakdown in October 2012

Value of prizes Number of prizes
£1,000,000 1
£100,000 5
£50,000 8
£25,000 19
£10,000 47
£5,000 92
£1,000 1,101
£500 3,303
£100 32,379
£50 32,379
£25 1,766,859
Total prize fund value
£55,085,825
Total number of prizes
1,836,193

There are 542,820 Premium Bonds holdings overseas, worth more than £550 million.

Unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes

However some overseas holders are yet to claim their prizes, over 55,000 prizes worth more than £2.9 million still remain unclaimed, out of a total of 846,000 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worldwide, worth more than £42 million.There is a woman based overseas who is still due to receive £100,000 after failing to claim her prize in a previous draw. She has only £6 invested in Premium Bonds and the prize was won in February 2007.

There is no time limit for claiming prizes. Premium Bonds investors can check to see if they have won by visiting nsandi.com and using the Premium Bonds prize checker on the homepage.

October's prize fund rate and odds

The Premium Bonds prize fund rate is 1.5% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning a prize are 24,000 to 1.

Premium Bond facts

Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in 1957, more than 258 million tax–free prizes worth approximately £14.1 billion have been paid out.

Premium Bonds are an investment where, instead of interest payments, investors have the chance to win tax-free prizes. They were officially launched by Harold Macmillan, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his 1956 Budget.

Premium Bonds can be bought online at nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 500 000(see note 5), by post and over the counter at Post Office® branches.

Premium Bonds offer investors 100% capital security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes from potentially winning tax-freeprizes.

As at November 2012, customers have over 22 million holdings in Premium Bonds totalling more than £43 billion. Prizes range from £25 to £1 million.

Premium Bonds online

Savers can now manage their Premium Bonds online, and opt to have any Premium Bonds prizes won paid directly into their bank accounts by BACS, with notification by email. Savers can also:

  • view their holding in full, with a record of prizes won
  • opt to automatically reinvest prizes
  • opt to stop receiving paper confirmation for transactions
  • update their personal details – address, bank details etc
  • buy and cash in Bond

Look out for further information on this big win, together with details of other tax-free prizes, which will be issued on the first working day of the month (01 May 2012). Sometimes winners of the Premium Bond jackpot provide a quote, if so this will also be available on the first working day of the month.


Notes to Editors

1. All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.

2. The jackpot winner becomes ERNIE’S 268th Premium Bond millionaire.

3. Unclaimed Premium Bond 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.

4. Pictures of ERNIE (including the new ERNIE 4 machine), Agent Million and people buying Premium Bonds are available in high-resolution jpeg format from the NS&I media team.

5. Free phone number – calls from mobiles and some landline providers may be chargeable. Telephone calls may be recorded.

6. Further information on NS&I (National Savings and Investments), including press releases and product information, is available on the website at nsandi.com.