Two fortunate Premium Bond holders from Liverpool and Bedfordshire have each won a £1 million prize, as officially announced. The National Savings & Investments, backed by taxpayers, disclosed that the initial £1 million winning Bond number for this month is 489TB013219, held by an individual from Central Bedfordshire. The Bond was purchased in February 2022, maxing out the £50,000 per person limit set by NS&I.
The second £1 million jackpot Bond number is 040QJ919368, owned by a person in Liverpool, who also holds the maximum £50,000 and bought the winning Bond in October 2004.
These fortunate winners are part of the more than 6.1 million Premium Bond prizes totaling £408 million drawn by ERNIE this month. ERNIE, the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, uses cutting-edge technology to generate random numbers for the monthly prize draw. With this month’s draw, the total winnings for Premium Bond holders have reached £40 billion since the inaugural draw in 1957, resulting in 815 million prizes.
While two winners claimed £1 million each, the majority of prizes are of lesser value. Nonetheless, 78 Bond holders secured £100,000 each, and 154 received £50,000 each. Furthermore, there were 2,643,007 prizes worth £25 each.
Andrew Westhead, NS&I’s retail director, congratulated the two jackpot winners from Central Bedfordshire and Liverpool, who are now £1 million richer at the start of February. He highlighted that ERNIE has spread joy just in time for Valentine’s Day, emphasizing the significant total winnings of over £408 million distributed to 6.1 million prize winners this month alone, contributing to the £40 billion total winnings since the inception of Premium Bonds in 1957.
Premium Bonds present savers with an opportunity to save money while having the chance to win tax-free prizes. Individuals can hold up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds, backed by the Treasury for security. Newly purchased Premium Bonds must be held for a full calendar month after purchase to be eligible for the prize draw.
The jackpot prize was raised to £1 million starting from the April 1994 draw, with two £1 million prizes now awarded each month. Bond holders can verify their prize status the day after the first working day of each month using the Premium Bonds prize checker app or visiting the NS&I website. For this month, the verification will be available on Tuesday, February 3.
Winners of Premium Bonds prizes receive notifications via email or text each month if they have registered their contact details. NS&I cautioned that failing to update contact or bank details upon changes may result in missing out on winnings. Currently, there are over 2.7 million unclaimed prizes totaling nearly £114.8 million waiting to be claimed.