 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Media centre /
Press releaseLUCKIEST COUNTIES, LANCASHIRE AND SURREY, SCOOP OCTOBER'S £1 MILLION JACKPOTS 03 October 20051 million other tax-free prizes worth over £69m also awardedSurrey and Lancashire retain their titles of luckiest counties for Premium Bond jackpot wins, as a woman from Surrey and a man from Lancashire scoop October’s two £1 million prizes. This is the second consecutive month that someone from Surrey has won the jackpot, helping to keep it at the top of the millionaires table. The winner is a woman in her 60s and she becomes Surrey’s 14th Premium Bond millionaire since the top prize was introduced in 1994. The Lancashire winner is a man in his 50s, who won with a £2,000 Bond bought just over two years ago. This is the third time this year someone from Lancashire has scooped the jackpot and takes the county’s total to 10 millionaires. Only Greater London has more Premium Bond millionaires, with 24 lucky jackpot winners since 1994.
Surrey strikes it lucky twice in a row The winner from Surrey – who has chosen to remain anonymous – said: “I saw one of last month’s winners was from Surrey, it always makes you wonder if it’ll ever be me – and now it is! I’ve had Premium Bonds for years but recently topped up my holding to the maximum as part of my retirement plan. I hoped they would boost my monthly income plus I like the fact they are safe but never expected this much. “I think the first thing I’ll do is pay off the mortgage and then, who knows? Maybe a long holiday, we’ll see.” Lancashire: home of Ernie The winner from Lancashire, the home of Premium Bonds, is also keeping their identity a closely-guarded secret. On winning the jackpot he said “This is such a great surprise. I’m in my 50s so I worry a lot about pensions especially with all the uncertainty in the media at the moment. This means I’ll be a lot more comfortable and possibly even able to take early retirement!” The winners were told last night in person by NS&I’s Agent Millions – M1 and M2 – the mystery people who pay a personal visit to the jackpot winners to give them the good news. This is only the third month where NS&I has given away two £1 million tax-free jackpots. The second jackpot was introduced in August and this is the first major change since April 1994 when the first £1 million jackpot prize was introduced. Regional facts In Surrey, almost 540,000 people own Premium Bonds worth more than £960 million. There are approximately 9,000 unclaimed prizes in the county, worth almost £570,000. In Lancashire, approximately 1.1 million people own Premium Bonds worth more than £1 billion. There are over 19,500 unclaimed prizes in the area, worth over £1 million. The high volume of jackpot winners in these areas is a reflection of the fact that people in these regions hold some of the highest amounts of Premium Bonds in the UK. In October’s draw ERNIE gave away over one million prizes worth approximately £68 million.
Premium Bond Facts The Premium Bond prize fund rate is 3.00% tax-free, equivalent to 5.00% for a higher rate taxpayer and 3.75% for a basic rate taxpayer. The odds of winning are 24,000 to 1 and, with average luck, an investor with £30,000 in Premium Bonds can expect to win 15 tax-free prizes a year – more than one a month. 23 million people have more than £27 billion invested in Premium Bonds. Premium Bonds can be bought online at www.nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 007 007, by post and over the counter at Post Office branches. Like all NS&I products, Premium Bonds offer investors 100% security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes from winning tax free prizes. Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in 1957, 128 million tax-free prizes worth £8.1 billion have been given away. Prizes range from £50 to £1 million. There is currently over £25 million in unclaimed prizes. There is no time limit on claiming prizes. Premium Bond investors can check to see if they have won by logging on to www.nsandi.com and using the Premium Bond prize checker. ENDS Notes to Editors
Media team The numbers below are for media use only. Customers wishing to contact NS&I can find details here.
|
|
Search |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
