ERNIE selects mystery winners from Dorset and Tyne and Wear for £1 million Premium Bonds jackpot prizes
In July NS&I increased the Premium Bonds investment limit from £30,000 to £40,000, and added a second £1 million jackpot prize to the draw. Therefore, since last month ERNIE now makes two lucky millionaires every month.
The winner from Dorset
- A male living in Dorset
- Bond number: 177KY773745
- Winning Bond bought in February 2011
- Total holdings: £31,050
The winner from Tyne and Wear
- A female living in Tyne and Wear
- Bond number: 146DT529134
- Winning Bond bought in October 2008
- Total holdings: £1,800
For the September 2014 draw ERNIE paid out over 1.9 million prizes, together amounting to over £56 million in value. There were 50,212,436,681 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.
This brings the grand total of prizes since the first draw in June 1957, to 300.1 million and the value of those prizes to £15.3 billion.
Prize and value breakdown in September 2014
| Value of prizes | Number of prizes |
|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 4 |
| £50,000 | 8 |
| £25,000 | 15 |
| £10,000 | 39 |
| £5,000 | 78 |
| £1,000 | 1,129 |
| £500 | 3,387 |
| £100 | 15,468 |
| £50 | 15,468 |
| £25 | 1,895,652 |
| Total prize fund value £56,489,000 |
Total number of prizes 1,931,250 |
September’s prize fund rate and odds
The annual Premium Bonds prize fund rate is currently 1.35% and the odds of each individual Bond number winning a prize are 26,000 to 1.
ERNIE
- The Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, or ERNIE, was originally invented by one of the original Bletchley Park code breakers
- ERNIE generates numbers completely at random for the prize draw and it is impossible or anyone to predict ERNIE’s numbers or to influence the results of the draw
- ERNIE is now in his fourth generation
Keeping track of Premium Bonds
- The NS&I Premium Bonds prize checker app is free to download, quick and easy to use and lets customers check if they’ve won a prize in the past six months
- Customers can also check if they have won by using the Premium Bonds prize checker on nsandi.com
Unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes
- Across the UK there are over 1 million unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worth more than £47 million
- Premium Bonds holders can reduce the chances of their prizes becoming unclaimed by registering to have any prizes paid directly into their bank accounts (with notification by email):http://www.nsandi.com/register
- There is no time limit for claiming prizes
Notes to Editors
- All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax
- This month’s jackpot winners become ERNIE’S 297th and 298th Premium Bonds millionaires
- 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 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
- 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: @NSIpressoffice
- NS&I has a number of spokespeople available for interviews and our experienced media team is available via our ISDN line: 020 7828 5288.