The fascinating history of UK Premium Bonds

Reply #9

dannyct — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 15:20:50 GMT

36. Ten children under the age of 16 have won the 1 million jackpot.

37. The oldest ever 1 million winner was aged over 90 at the time of their win.

38. There has been a millionaire from every English county apart from Rutland.

39. Almost nine in 10 of the more than 3.2 million prizes paid each month are automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds or paid directly into customers bank accounts.

40. The average holding size of the 1 million jackpot winners is just over 17,000.... [ More ]

Reply #8

dannyct — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 15:19:03 GMT

31. More than 22.9 billion in prize money has been paid out by Ernie since the first draw in 1957.

32. In December 2006, NS I made five people millionaires to celebrate 50 years since Premium Bonds went on sale.

33. In June 2007, NS I again made five millionaires this time to celebrate 50 years since the first Premium Bonds prize draw.

34. In the run-up to the December 2006 draw, during one day in October, NS I sold more than 220 million of Premium Bonds as people rushed to make sure... [ More ]

Reply #7

dannyct — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:12:15 GMT

26. Since Ernie turned 60 in June 2017, this number has almost doubled from 64,057,711,819.

27. The figure has almost quadrupled from Ernie s 50th birthday in November 2006, there were 32,329,928,097 eligible bonds.

28. The biggest increase in the number of eligible bonds month-on-month was March 2021, when the figure rose by 2,160,113,561 from the previous draw.

29. June 1 2022 marks the 780th Premium Bonds prize draw.

30. Bond number 200VB673507 is one of the luckiest on record... [ More ]

Reply #6

dannyct — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 13:10:02 GMT

21. The longest amount of time a winner has waited to win the 1 million jackpot is 16,587 days (or 45 years and five months). This was a winner based in Newham, London, who held 17 in Premium Bonds. The winning bond was purchased in February 1959 and won the jackpot prize in July 2004.

22. At the other end of the spectrum, 12 winners have waited just two months to win the 1 million jackpot, winning in the first draws in which their bonds were eligible.

23. The above winner from Newham in... [ More ]

Reply #5

dannyct — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:56:05 GMT

16. Harold Wilson, the shadow chancellor at the time of the launch of Premium Bonds, referred to them as a squalid raffle .

17. IFK341150 was the first ever Premium Bonds number drawn and was held by a Premium Bond holder in Cumbria.

18. The Premium Bonds draw was often a glitzy affair, with the likes of Bob Hope and Sir Bruce Forsyth starting the draw at some point.

19. The 1 million Premium Bonds prize was launched in April 1994.

20. June 1 2022 (the 65th anniversary of the fir... [ More ]

Reply #4

dannyct — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:53:12 GMT

11. There were 23,142 prizes paid out in the first draw.

12. The odds of a 1 holding winning the 1,000 jackpot at the time were estimated to be around one in 505,079.

13. If you held the maximum 500 in Premium Bonds at the time, your odds of winning the jackpot increased to around one in 1,010.

14. 394,007 bonds bought prior to the first draw are still eligible to this day.

15. These 394,007 bonds won more than 100 prizes in 2021.

Reply #3

dannyct — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 23:31:57 GMT

6. The jackpot prize for the first draw was 1,000 (versus 1 million now).

7. The smallest prize for the first draw was 25.

8. The maximum investment in 1956 was 500 (versus 50,000 now).

9. There were 49 million bonds eligible for the first draw.

10. These 49 million bonds belonged to around six million Premium Bonds holders.

Reply #2

dannyct — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 16:43:27 GMT

NS I (National Savings and Investments), a state-owned savings bank in the UK, has released 65 facts about Premium Bonds to mark 65 years since the first prize draw:

1. The first Premium Bond was purchased by the then lord mayor of London, Alderman Sir Cuthbert Ackroyd, on November 1 1956.

2. The second Premium Bond was bought by the mayor of Lytham St Annes.

3. By the end of the first day on sale, more than 5 million worth of bonds had been purchased.

4. The public had to wait s... [ More ]

Reply #1

dannyct — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 01:58:16 GMT

Mr Macmillan tried to head off the critics by declaring: This is not a pool or a lottery, where you spend your money.

The investor would be saving their money and the government would guarantee to buy the bonds back at the original price at any time.

There was laughter as he insisted the premium bonds would bring in new savers tempted by the possibility of winning a small fortune.

But Labour spokesman Harold Wilson urged the chancellor to take the sale of premium bonds out of his fi... [ More ]

The fascinating history of UK Premium Bonds

dannyct — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 01:54:33 GMT

1956: Macmillan unveils premium bond scheme

The British Chancellor Harold Macmillan has unveiled plans for a new state saving scheme offering cash prizes instead of interest.

The premium bond would be something completely new for the saver in Great Britain, he told MPs.

The scheme is part of what he called his savings budget aimed at getting more people to save money by offering a top prize of 1,000.

However the proposal is likely to draw criticism from some who regard the schem... [ More ]