Holders of Premium Bonds have the opportunity to increase their chances of winning cash prizes according to the National Savings and Investments (NS&I). Every month, two lucky bondholders have the chance to win jackpots of £1 million. These prizes range from £5 to a life-changing £1 million, with several high-value prizes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in between.
Figures from NS&I show that at the beginning of each month, 5.8 million numbers are drawn, and randomly selected individuals with a minimum investment of £25 are chosen to win. Despite the odds of any £1 Bond number winning a prize being 21,000 to one, there are ways to increase the chances of winning.
Andrew Westhead, the retail director at NS&I, has emphasized that each £1 Bond has an equal chance of winning. The more people save, the greater their chances are of winning a tax-free prize. This was evident when winners from Hampshire and Outer London both won significant prizes with investments of £45,000 and £10,575, respectively.
However, there are instances where individuals have won with significantly less investment. In the February prize draw, a fortunate saver managed to win £50,000 despite only holding £10 in Bonds.
To check if they have won a prize, individuals can utilize NS&I’s prize-checking tool, which will display this month’s prizes as well as any older unclaimed prizes. Currently, there are 2,399,977 unclaimed prizes worth £83,367,525. NS&I advises savers to have prizes paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds to ensure they are claimed. This was supported by the fact that winners have won with much less than this. One lucky saver managed to win £50,000 in February’s prize draw despite only having £10 in Bonds.
NS&I has stated that the most effective way to ensure prizes are claimed is for savers to opt to have them paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds. If you have not yet downloaded the NS&I Premium Bonds prize checker app, it is available on the Apple Store or Google Play where the same information will be readily accessible.