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Press release

NEW MILLIONAIRES FROM HERTFORDSHIRE AND DEVON IN FEBRUARY’S JACKPOT DRAW

03 February 2009

  • Winning Premium Bond numbers
  • Over 1 million tax-free prizes awarded worth a total of over £58 million
 

Millionaire 1

A man living in Hertfordshire
Bond Number: 42KA416902
Winning Bond bought in April 2001
Total holdings: £30,000

Millionaire 2

A female living in Devon
Bond Number: 52JY438858
Winning Bond bought in December 2004
Total holdings : £30,000


The first winner, a gentleman from Hertfordshire who wishes to remain anonymous, said of his win, “It’s unbelievable to be the recipient of such a large cash prize – there’s always a part of you that thinks you will win, but then when your Bond is selected, it is such a fabulous surprise!”

In Hertfordshire over 470,000 people hold Premium Bonds worth just over £1 billion. There are 10,600 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in total worth approximately £618,000.

In Devon over 497,000 people hold Premium Bonds worth just over £1 billion. There are 7,600 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, with a value of over £440,000.

In February’s draw ERNIE paid out over 1 million prizes, together amounting to more than £58 million in value. There were 38,890,306,380 eligible Bond numbers in the draw.

Prize and value breakdown in February 2009

Value of Prizes

 

Number of Prizes

£1,000,000

2

£ 100,000

1

£ 50,000

1

£25,000

2

£10,000

7

£5,000

13

£1,000

232

£ 500

696

£100

29,077

£50

1,050,255

 

Total Prize Fund Value

£58,335,450

 

Total Number of Prizes

1,080,286

 

Premium Bond facts

The current Premium Bonds prize fund rate is 1.8% tax-free2.  The current odds of each £1 Bond number winning any prize are 36,000 to 1, so with average luck an investor with £30,000 in Premium Bonds could win 10 tax-free prizes a year. At the end of December 2008, about 23 million people had a total of about £39 billion invested in Premium Bonds.

Premium Bonds can be bought online at www.nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 007 007 (see note 5), by post and over the counter at Post Office® branches, and brochures can be picked up in WHSmith in 400 of its High Street stores and 155 of its travel stores.

Like all NS&I products, Premium Bonds offer investors 100% capital security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes from potentially winning tax-free prizes.

Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in 1957 over 185 million tax–free prizes worth £11.9 billion have been paid out. Prizes range from £50 to £1 million.

There are currently over 570,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, worth over £33 million. There is no time limit for claiming prizes.  Premium Bonds investors can check to see if they have won by visiting www.nsandi.com and using the Premium Bonds prize checker.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1.      The February jackpot winners from Hertfordshire and Devon both wish to remain anonymous.

2.      All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. 

3.      The lucky jackpot winners become ERNIE’s 227th and 228th Premium Bond millionaires.

4.      Pictures of ERNIE (including the new ERNIE 4 machine), Agent Million and people buying Premium Bonds are available in high-resolution jpeg format from the NS&I media team.

5.      Free phone number – calls from mobiles may be chargeable. Telephone calls may be recorded.

6.      Further information on NS&I (National Savings and Investments), including press releases and product information, is available on the website at www.nsandi.com. You can also contact the NS&I media team.

7.      Subscribe to the NS&I RSS newsfeed.  Simply copy and paste this link www.nsandi.com/mediacentre.xml into your RSS reader to receive regular news alerts from NS&I.

8.      NS&I has a number of spokespeople available for interviews and our experienced media team is available via our ISDN line: 020 7602 4522.

Media team
NS&I has a number of spokespeople available for interviews and our experienced radio team is available via our ISDN line: 020 7602 4522.

The numbers below are for media use only. Customers wishing to contact NS&I can find details here.

Gareth Headon 020 7348 9494
gareth.headon@nsandi.com
Gill Stephens 020 7348 9449
gill.stephens@nsandi.com
Iman Asante 020 7348 9301
iman.asante@nsandi.com
Monica Del-Villar 020 7348 9654
monica.del-villar@nsandi.com

ISDN for interviews

020 7602 4522

Out of hours

All numbers above diverted to staffed mobile phones
 

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