To celebrate 50 successful years of NS&I Premium Bonds, we paid out five £1 million jackpots in each of two special anniversary draws. The first, in December 2006, was to celebrate Premium Bonds first going on sale towards the end of 1956. And the second anniversary draw in June 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the first ever Premium Bonds prize draw in June 1957.
Giving customers a better chance to win £1 million caused huge interest in the run up to the two anniversary draws, with record levels of Premium Bonds sales. Sally Swait, Premium Bonds manager at NS&I, said: “We wanted to recognise these landmark dates by holding our biggest ever prize draws. It was a thank-you to our customers, offering three extra chances in each anniversary draw to win the big jackpot.”
In the first prize draw in June 1957, there were a total of 23,000 prizes and the top prize was £1,000. Since then over 145 million tax-free prizes have been paid out to lucky winners worth a total of over £9 billion!
Every month we make two people millionaires and pay out over a million other prizes from £50 to £100,000. At the current odds, an investor with average luck who holds the maximum £30,000 worth of Premium Bonds could win 15 prizes a year – a healthy return when you consider that there’s no UK Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax to pay on the prizes.
Happy winners
One of our jackpot winners, who had around £5,500 invested, said: “This is such a wonderful start to a new year. You never know when you are going to get lucky. It’s funny, I never thought I’d win the jackpot as I don’t have anything near the maximum invested but then ERNIE picked my number!”
And another, who had the maximum £30,000, said: “I got such a shock when I was told I’d won! I will definitely put a big chunk back into savings but my family and I will want to spoil ourselves a bit first.”
We keep all winners' names confidential.
Two £1 million jackpots every month?
Although the anniversary celebrations have now passed, we still pay out two £1 million jackpots and over a million other tax-free prizes every month. The more Bonds you have, the better your chances of winning, so if you want to buy more just click “Invest now” below. Or if you want an easy way to invest regularly, you can set up a standing order.
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