A person from Sefton has just become a millionaire after a decision they made 17 years ago.
The lucky winner held £30,000 in Premium Bonds and purchased their winning Bond in May 2006. The person, who has not been named, was the 499 jackpot-winning Bond number drawn since the competition was first introduced in 1994.
The jackpot winning numbers were drawn by the fifth incarnation of ERNIE, NS&I’s random number generator. The second winning Bond number drawn belongs to a winner in Sheffield.
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With NS&I previously announcing that February’s Premium Bonds prize fund rate will be 3.15% – its highest level in 14 years – this month’s draw will see close to five million prizes paid out worth £313,936,100. The change to the Premium Bonds prize fund rate is the fourth increase that NS&I has made in less than a year, meaning the rate has tripled since the May 2022 prize draw.
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.
In Sefton, there are 9,473 unclaimed prizes with a total value of £320,600. £1,000 is the largest unclaimed prize in Sefton and there are three of these that have not been claimed from between September 1994 and October 2020. The oldest unclaimed prize in Sefton is from January 1967 and is worth £25.
Jill Waters, NS&I Retail Director, said: “What a story for that 500th £1 million winner – this customer from Sheffield holds £3,000 in Premium Bonds, which is one of the lowest value holdings to ever scoop the coveted jackpot prize since it was launched.
"Their investment 15 years ago has paid off for them, along with our Sefton winner who bought their winning Bond almost 17 years ago. Massive congratulations to both of them and here’s to the next 500 Premium Bonds millionaires.”
In the February 2023 prize draw, a total of 4,983,114 prizes worth £313,936,100 will be paid out. There were 119,594,702,144 Bond numbers eligible for the draw. Since the first draw in July 1957, ERNIE has drawn 606 million prizes with a total value of £24.7 billion.
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