Edinburgh and Essex are October’s big Premium Bonds winners this month
It’s the first time either area has had a visit from Agent Million this year; the last winner from Essex was from December 2016, while it’s over a decade – October 2006 – since there was a jackpot prize in the Scottish capital.
The winner from Scotland is the 21st from the country and only the second from Edinburgh, along with two others from Lothian, while this month’s winner from Essex is the lucky 13th from the county.
Jill Waters, NS&I Retail Director, said:
“From Essex to Edinburgh, Agent Million is once again travelling the country to share the excitement of winning a life-changing Premium Bonds prize.”
The Edinburgh winner is a woman with £15,500 held in Premium Bonds. The winning Bond (number: 237VM129960) was bought in January 2015 as part of a £15,000 purchase at the time.
The winner from Essex is a man whose £27,000 purchase in October 2014 contained this month’s second jackpot-winning number (Bond number: 233ZP420674). He holds £40,000 in Premium Bonds.
Jill Waters added:
“The two winners this month won’t be the only newly-crowned millionaires before the end of 2017. There are four more £1 million prizes to be won, two in November and two in December, and just under five million other prizes too.
“If someone was to invest in Premium Bonds before the end of October, their Bonds would be eligible for December’s draw, so they could become a millionaire over the festive period.”
Could Christmas come early to you?
In addition to the prizes paid out every month, there are still more than 1.4 million that have yet to be claimed, dating back to November 1957. The amount of money in unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes now totals just under £57 million, with five prizes of £100,000 among those that have yet to be paid to their rightful owner.
To check whether they have any unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes, customers can visit the NS&I website at www.nsandi.com, download the Prize Checker app for free at the App Store on or Google Play or call NS&I’s Freephone number on 08085 007007 to see if they’re owed a prize.
In Edinburgh, a total of 10,257 prizes remain unclaimed, worth £512,225. Among these are five prizes dating back to the 1960s (the highest worth £50), and another six prizes worth £1,000.
The numbers in Essex are even more eye-watering, with 31 prizes of £1,000 or more – including one of £25,000, two of £10,000 and three of £5,000 – waiting to be claimed. The oldest yet to be collected by its owner is a £25 prize won by a man in February 1964, and altogether more than 37,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes are worth just under £1.5 million.
Register online and get your prizes on time
By registering to receive prizes by BACS, Premium Bonds winners can have their future prizes paid direct to a nominated bank account, and update their personal details and information to minimise the risk of any future prizes going unclaimed.
Over 1.5 million Premium Bonds customers have now registered for this option, including 57,561 account holders in Essex and just over 8,500 in Edinburgh. To find out more, visit the NS&I website: https://www.nsandi.com/can-my-prizes-be-paid-straight-my-bank-account
October 2017 prize breakdown
In the October 2017 draw, a total of 2,360,194 prizes – the highest number of prizes in any monthly draw – worth £67,855,500 will be paid out. There were 70,805,732,962 eligible Bonds for the draw.
Since the first draw in June 1957, ERNIE – the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment that generates the winning numbers each month – has created 380 million winning numbers, paying out more than £17.7 billion.
| Value of prizes | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 3 |
| £50,000 | 5 |
| £25,000 | 11 |
| £10,000 | 29 |
| £5,000 | 56 |
| £1,000 | 1,356 |
| £500 | 4,068 |
| £100 | 22,039 |
| £50 | 22,039 |
| £25 | 2,310,586 |
| Total prize fund value £67,855,500 |
Total number of prizes 2,360,194 |
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 Bond prize winners at nsandi.com/winning-stories
- All Premium Bond 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 1.15% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning any prize are 30,000 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 new freephone number and calls to it from the UK are free from both landlines and mobiles. Telephone calls may be recorded.
- When reporting total unclaimed assets held by NS&I (including accounts, Certificates, Bonds, unclaimed Premium Bond 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 (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