Premium Bonds millionaire re-invests £25 win to scoop October jackpot
And it turns out that the woman’s good fortune is the result of her re-investing a relatively modest £25 Premium Bonds win in July this year, proving that re-invested Premium Bonds can go on to win further big prizes.
The Essex bond holder (Bond number: 276AV278339) topped up her Premium Bonds account in May this year, and won a £25 prize with the newly invested Bonds. The customer had chosen to have their prizes automatically reinvested, and that same £25 has this month scooped the Premium Bonds jackpot. The woman in Essex has won with a total holding of £22,225, making it tenth time lucky for the region.
Elsewhere, a man from Staffordshire (Bond number: 215XY865796) with a Bond holding of £40,800, purchased in January 2014 is the second recipient of October’s £1 million jackpot prize. His win notches up the fourth millionaire winner in the county.
Premium Bond holders have the option to automatically re-invest any prize wins, meaning that their new investments can boost their chances of potentially winning further prizes.
Jill Waters, NS&I’s Retail Director, said:
"The Essex jackpot winner is a great endorsement for the enduring appeal of Premium Bonds. It is heart-warming that she has won the biggest prize from a re-invested Premium Bonds prize of just £25. It goes to show that re-invested prizes can go on to net substantial wins.
"So far in 2016, we have now seen four people win the Premium Bonds million pound jackpot from re-investing their earlier prize wins."
Jill Waters continued:
"In Staffordshire, a lucky winner is celebrating becoming the fourth person in the county to win the big million pound prize. Premium Bonds, which are celebrating their milestone 60th anniversary this year, have for over six decades proved to be a fun and safe way to save, as your investment is 100% guaranteed by government and all prizes are tax free."
For the October 2016 prize draw, ERNIE paid out over 2.1 million prizes of more than £65.9 million in value. There were 63,306,285,865 eligible Bond numbers in the draw. This brings the grand total of prizes won since the first draw in June 1957 to 353 million and the value of those prizes to £16.9 billion.
Although the two lucky winners may be celebrating long into the night, there are still many unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, with several of these located in Essex and Staffordshire, where some bond holders are unaware that their numbers have come up previously.
Among the notable high value unclaimed prizes is a £10,000 prize won by a man from Staffordshire, from just a £20 holding in the February 2001 draw, and a woman from Essex, who has won £25,000 from a holding of £2,250 won in May 2014.
With Premium Bonds celebrating their milestone 60th anniversary in November 2016, NS&I is encouraging Premium Bond holders to reconnect with their old Bonds, some of which date back to over 50 years. In total, there are over 1.2 million unclaimed prizes, worth over £53 million. A man in Staffordshire, with a holding of just £1, won £25 from the prize draw, over half a century ago, in July 1960, whilst a woman from Essex, with just a £5 investment won a prize in the October 1968 draw, also worth £25.
Premium Bond holders can reduce the chance of their prizes becoming unclaimed by registering to have any prizes paid directly into their bank account (with notification by email). One million NS&I customers have already signed up to have their prizes paid in this way.
Customers can also use the prize checker on nsandi.com or they can download the Premium Bonds Prize Checker App to find out instantly if their bonds have won a prize in the latest draw, 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 Store or Google Play, and is free to download.
October 2016 Premium Bonds prize draw breakdown
| Value of prizes | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 3 |
| £50,000 | 4 |
| £25,000 | 11 |
| £10,000 | 26 |
| £5,000 | 52 |
| £1,000 | 1,319 |
| £500 | 3,957 |
| £100 | 67,306 |
| £50 | 67,306 |
| £25 | 1,970,226 |
| Total prize fund value £65,944,050 |
Total number of prizes 2,110,212 |
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 12,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in Staffordshire, worth more than £511,000. In Essex, there are over 34,000 unclaimed prizes, worth more than £1.3 million.
- All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
- This month’s jackpot winners become ERNIE’S 347th and 348th 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.