Premium Bonds: Do you need to hold big sums to win big?

The two latest Premium Bond holders to become millionaires in the draw did so with big sums tied up in the popular savings product. 

One winner, from Greater Manchester held the maximum £50,000, while the other winner, from London, held £49,000 to win the two £1million jackpots in May. 

The popular National Savings and Investment product allows savers to stick up to £50,000 in the accounts with roughly 21million – one in three of the UK population – holding them. 

Seven of the last 24 winners of the £1million prize over the last 12 months held the maximum £50,000, whilst three others held £49,000 or more.

In total, 17 of the 24 winners held £30,000 of Premium Bonds,  meaning seven jackpot winners held less than £30,000 over the last 12 months. 

However, while it is clear holding the maximum amount boosts your chances of winning big, those with smaller holdings can still get lucky.

A bond holder with just £1,001 won the £1million jackpot in August 2021, which is one of the lowest holdings to have won the £1million jackpot.

Of all the 482 Premium Bonds millionaires on record, just 12 others have won the £1million jackpot with a smaller overall holding.

What are the odds of winning a prize?

NS&I pay out around three million tax free prizes ranging from £25 to £1million every month to Bond holders, whose numbers are chosen by an electronic random number generator known – the latest version is ERNIE 5.

On top of the two £1 million prizes, there were five winners of the £100,000 prize, 11 winners of the £50,000 prize and 21 winners of the £25,000 prize.

Over the past two years a considerable amount has been stashed into Premium Bonds.

There are currently almost 118 billion bond numbers eligible for the draw, up from just over 86billion eligible bonds in March 2020.

The chance of winning a prize today is 34,500 to 1 for every £1 bond you hold. 

However, it is worth noting that that a win will most likely secure you one of the £25 prizes awarded each month. 

For example, this month, roughly 3.34million of the 3.42million prizes awarded were for £25.

In terms of winning one of the two £1million jackpots – your chances are incredibly remote.

According to data scientist, Andrew Zelin, those who invest £1,000 into Premium Bonds will have to wait 3.2million years for a 50:50 chance of pocketing the top £1million prize.

Mr Zelin also calculated that with the maximum £50,000 stake you would still have to wait 60.3 years for an even chance of winning £1,000 or 2,385 years for £10,000 and 64,398 years for the top reward.