Premium Bonds holders from Reading and Warwickshire celebrate as Agent Million delivers summer jackpots

• July’s £1 million jackpot winners come from Reading and Warwickshire
• ERNIE has drawn over six million prizes this month, worth more than £433 million
• 83 Premium Bonds holders won a £100,000 prize

Two Premium Bonds holders from Reading and Warwickshire are celebrating an unforgettable summer after each winning the £1 million Premium Bonds jackpot.

The first Premium Bonds £1 million winning Bond number this month is 250TP871786 and is held by someone from Reading. They purchased the winning Bond in July 2015 and hold £49,931. They are the second jackpot winner from Reading.

The second Premium Bonds £1 million jackpot Bond number is 217AV429216 and is held by someone in Warwickshire. They purchased their winning Bond in January 2014 and hold £14,000. They are the tenth person to win the £1 million jackpot in Warwickshire.

Andrew Westhead, NS&I Retail Director, said:

“They're not the only ones celebrating – ERNIE drew more than six million tax-free prizes this month, worth over £433 million in total. That’s around £57 million more than last month thanks to the increase in the prize fund rate for July.

“Could you be a prize winner this month? Download the NS&I prize checker app and find out from Thursday 2 July.”

July 2026 prize draw breakdown
In the July draw, 6,226,179 tax-free prizes will be paid to Premium Bonds prize draw winners totaling £433,757,200. This month there were 136,975,958,547 £1 Bonds eligible for the draw. This brings the grand total of prizes since the first draw in June 1957 to 845 million and the value to £42 billion.

What are Premium Bonds?

Since they originally went on sale in November 1956, Premium Bonds have offered savers an accessible way to invest with the chance to win tax-free prizes. The first prize draw by ERNIE was held in June 1957.

Individuals can hold up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds, including those aged under 16. Premium Bonds offer the security of being backed by HM Treasury alongside the excitement of potentially winning tax-free prizes.

Newly purchased Premium Bonds need to be held for one full calendar month after purchase before being eligible for the prize draw. 

Prizes are funded based upon a prize fund rate applied across the total of all eligible Premium Bonds held.

Each £1 Bond purchased is entered into a monthly prize draw, where prizes range from £25 to £1 million, making it a different and engaging way to save. The jackpot prize was increased to £1 million from the April 1994 draw. There are now two £1 million prizes each month.

Checking prizes

The Bond numbers for the two £1 million jackpot prize winners are announced on the first working day of each month having been contacted directly by Agent Million. Bond holders can check if they have won prizes ranging from £25 to £100,000 the day after the first working day of each month by using the Premium Bonds prize checker app, visiting the NS&I website, or by asking Alexa. For July 2026, this is Thursday 2 July.

To check prizes on the NS&I website, Bond holders will need their Premium Bonds holder’s number. For those using the Premium Bonds app, they can use their holder’s number, or their NS&I number.

Premium Bonds prizes notifications and unclaimed prizes

Premium Bonds prize winners will receive notifications of their winnings each month via their chosen method such as email or text if they have registered their contact details.

Over 99% of prizes have been paid to winners since the draw began in 1957 but there are instances where customers relocate or change contact or bank details and forget to update NS&I with the new details, which can lead to unclaimed prizes. Currently there are 2,817,080 unclaimed prizes worth £123,537,625 waiting to be claimed by Bond holders.

The best way to avoid prizes going unclaimed is to have them paid directly into the holder’s bank account or automatically reinvested into Premium Bonds up to the £50,000 holding limit. Prizes automatically reinvested are immediately eligible for the next draw. These payment methods now account for nine in ten prizes being paid in these ways.

Customers who think they may have an unclaimed prize (prizes over 18 months old) can check by entering their holder’s number into NS&I’s online prize checker or the prize checker app.

In Reading, there are currently 15,032 unclaimed prizes worth £619,900. The largest unclaimed prize in Reading is worth £10,000 and was won in October 2015.

In Warwickshire, there are currently 20,377 unclaimed prizes worth £856,100. There is a £10,000 prize from January 2005 yet to be claimed.

Notes to Editors

1. The variable annual prize fund rate for the July 2026 Premium Bonds prize draw is 3.80%. The odds of any £1 Bond number winning a prize are 22,000 to 1.
2. Details of previous prize fund rates and odds for Premium Bonds can be found here.
3. Spokespeople including Agent Million are available for interview, along with historical, national and regional facts and figures about Premium Bonds by contacting the Media Team (information below).
4. All Premium Bonds are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
5. ERNIE (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment). The story of ERNIE is available here.
6. NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to more than 24 million customers including over 22 million Premium Bonds holders. All products offer 100% security as NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
7. Further information on NS&I including past press releases is available at nsandi-corporate.com.
8. NS&I photography and logos are available to download here.