The number of Premium Bond prizes between £5,000 and £100,000 handed out has almost doubled, in the first draw since NS&I announced it was injecting an extra £79million into the pot.
This month, the prize fund rate increased from 1.4 per cent to 2.2 per cent, the biggest single increase in more than 40 years.
This meant that for the more than 22 million people who currently hold premium bonds, their odds of winning improved from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1.
Are you a winner? October’s prize draw also saw an extra £79million added to the prize pot
Whilst the odds of winning the two £1million jackpot prizes remained the same, October’s draw would have seen a far greater number of people enjoy prizes worth between £5,000 and £100,000.
Compared to last month’s draw, the number of £5,000, £10,000, £25,000, £50,000 and £100,000 prizes almost doubled.
For example, this month there were 18 £100,000 prizes, up from 10 in September, and 36 £50,000 prizes, up from 20.
In total, October’s prize draw will see a total of almost 5million prizes paid out to customers, with close to £219million being paid out.
There were over 119billion bond numbers eligible for the draw, with the bonds held by more than 22million people.
Who won the jackpot?
This month’s Premium Bonds millionaire jackpot winners come from outer London and Suffolk.
Both winners held the maximum £50,000 in Premium Bonds. The London based winner purchased their winning bond in June 2018 whilst the Suffolk victor purchased their winning bond in July 2014.
Better odds: NS&I announced that the Premium Bonds prize fund rate would increase from 1.4 per cent to 2.20 per cent, with the odds changing from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1.
Jill Waters, retail director at NS&I, said: ‘Congratulations to our two winners from Outer London and Suffolk.
‘£1 million is a truly life changing sum of money and we wish them all the best for their future.
‘Premium Bonds are not just about the £1 million jackpot prize – from this month, we’ve increased the prize fund rate and added a massive £79million 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.’
| Value of prizes in September 2022 | Number of prizes in September 2022 | Value of prizes in October 2022 (estimated) | Number of prizes in October 2022 (estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1,000,000 | 2 | £1,000,000 | 2 |
| £100,000 | 10 | £100,000 | 18 |
| £50,000 | 20 | £50,000 | 36 |
| £25,000 | 39 | £25,000 | 72 |
| £10,000 | 98 | £10,000 | 178 |
| £5,000 | 199 | £5,000 | 357 |
| £1,000 | 2,779 | £1,000 | 4,364 |
| £500 | 8,337 | £500 | 13,092 |
| £100 | 38,137 | £100 | 728,737 |
| £50 | 38,137 | £50 | 728,737 |
| £25 | 4,774,798 | £25 | 3,484,716 |
| Total: | Total | Total | Total |
| £138,988,000 | 4,862,556 | £218,253,450 | 4,960,308 |
How to check if you have won
Premium Bonds holders can check to see if they have won a prize in October’s prize draw, by using the nsandi.com prize checker, official prize checker app or their Alexa-enabled device from Tuesday 4 October 2022.
Customers will need their Premium Bonds holder’s number to use the website, and their NS&I number or holder’s number to check via the prize checker app.
At the same time, they can check for any unclaimed prizes owed to them.
You may have an unclaimed prize
Premium Bonds prize winners are notified when they win a prize, but sometimes people move or change their contact details without letting NS&I know – this can lead to unclaimed prizes if they have opted to receive their prize by cheque.
There are currently more than 2.2million unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worth more than £77million.
For example, in Suffolk alone, there are 22,656 unclaimed prizes with a total value of £725,300.
£1,000 is the largest unclaimed prize in Suffolk and there are nine of these that were won between the May 1986 and December 2020 prize draw.
In Outer London, there are 246,510 unclaimed prizes worth more than £8million.
The best way to ensure that prizes do not go unclaimed is for people to have them paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds.
Getting prizes paid directly is also quicker and more secure, with more than nine in ten prizes now paid this way.
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