NS&I [National Savings & Investments] has revealed this month's jackpot winners, with two lucky people hitting the jackpot.
Alongside the jackpot, millions of Premium Bond holders will find out this month if they won something, with prizes starting from £25.
The two winners of the top prize in October’s draw come from Outer London and Suffolk.
The winner from Outer London holds £50,000 in Premium Bonds, and bought winning bond 333XB827779 in June 2018.
The other jackpot winner, from Suffolk, has £50,000 in bonds and bought the winning bond 226HV323415 in July 2014.
October’s prize draw also saw an extra £79 million added to the prize pot, with the prize fund rate increasing from 1.40% to 2.20% – the biggest single increase in more than 40 years. It means the odds of winning have improved from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1.
Jill Waters, NS&I retail director, said: “From this month, we’ve increased the prize fund rate and added a massive £79 million to the prize pot, meaning people up and down the country will have more chances to win prizes ranging from £50 up to £100,000, as well as our two jackpot prizes.”
The prizes are picked by NS&I’s robot called Ernie. This month, some of the winners Ernie picked include two million pound winners, 18 £100,000 winners, 36 £50,000 winners, 71 £25,000 winners, 178 £10,000 winners, and 3,493,262 £25 winners. Prizes between £25 and £1,000,000 were distributed to 4,972,506 Premium Bond holders.
HOW TO CHECK IF YOU’VE WON PREMIUM BONDS
If you have ever held Premium Bonds, you can check to see if you have won anything in this draw (from 4 October) or previous ones. There are several ways to find out if you’ve won Premium Bonds.
You can check by using NS&I’s online prize checker or the prize checker app. The prize checker app lets you know how many days until the next draw too.
You can also ask Amazon Alexa via your NS&I number.
If you have registered with NS&I online you will be informed via email if you’ve won a prize - so make sure the email provided to NS&I is accurate.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the app and haven’t registered online, a letter will be sent to your home address. Again, make sure your address record is up-to-date.
You can also check if you have any previous windfalls to collect. You are notified if you win a prize, but if you move or change contact details without letting NS&I know, you could be missing out if you opted to receive your prize via cheque.
In Outer London, there are 246,510 unclaimed prizes worth £8,613,300. The largest unclaimed prize is £100,000 and is from the February 2007 prize draw. The oldest unclaimed prize in Outer London is from November 1961 and is worth £25.
HOW DO PREMIUM BONDS COMPARE TO SAVINGS ACCOUNTS?
In October, the Premium Bond prize rate rose from 1.4% to 2.2%. This doesn’t mean you will earn 2.2% interest on your savings, but means the odds of winning have improved from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1.
As a result, the number of £100,000 prizes went up from 10 to 18, while there are now 36 prizes worth £50,000 rather than the previous 19 - and there are over a million more £25 prizes to be won.
The 2.2% acts as an indicator of the average pay out for someone with average luck.
Those with better-than-average luck will make more, and those with less luck can sadly go decades without a win - this is especially true if you only hold a small number of bonds.
If you want a guaranteed return on savings of £1,000, the best easy-access savings account on the market is currently with Yorkshire Building Society, earning 2.5%. This is a guaranteed return, unlike with Premium Bonds.
See our article on the Best Saving Accounts to find the latest interest rates on savings accounts.
For most of us with average luck, a savings account will give a better return than Premium Bonds. We explain more in our article on if Premium Bonds are worth it.
Ultimately, Premium Bonds are a fun savings product. The Money Edit’s Guy Anker summed it up recently:
Premium Bonds:The hope…The excitement…The ‘what’ll I do with my £1m?’ thought…Then ‘what’s my number to find out if it’s actually £25 rather than £1m?’…Then the realisation it’s £25. Still not complaining, that’s Pizza Express sorted! pic.twitter.com/tu4PADCxCYMay 5, 2022
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