Premium Bond winner from Devon scoops £1m

Two Premium Bond holders in Devon and Outer London are celebrating the start of spring having both scooped the top £1 million prize in March’s Premium Bonds draw.

The pair are the 357th and 358th millionaires to be made by ERNIE since the jackpot prize was introduced in 1994.

The winner from Devon is a woman with the maximum holding of £50,000, whose winning Bond was purchased in January 2016 (winning Bond number: 264BD750537). She becomes the 12th person from the county to win the top prize, and the first since last April.

The successful millionaire from Outer London follows hot on the heels of a jackpot winner from the region just last month. The lucky man holds £35,012 in Premium Bonds, with the winning Bond purchased in July 2014, and the winning Bond number: 227QD676218.

Jill Waters, Retail Director at NS&I, said: “Agent Million will make another trip down to the capital this month to share the great news with a Premium Bonds millionaire. He is the 47th person to win the jackpot prize from the London area, but each winning experience is special and can change the lives of the lucky people whose numbers are drawn.”

Two of the six Premium Bonds jackpot winners already this year have come from London, following a relative drought of nearly 18 months since the previous millionaire from the capital.

While it was only last April that Agent Million visited Devon, this month’s jackpot win ends a relatively lean period for the county, as the previous win to that was just under five years ago in May 2012.

As well as this month’s prizes, you can also check for any unclaimed prizes that you may have lost touch with. There are over 1.3 million unclaimed prizes worth more than £54 million currently waiting to be claimed by their rightful owners.

In Devon, the oldest unclaimed prize belongs to a woman from a draw in February 1965, which is worth £25. The highest unclaimed prizes include a £25,000 win from May 2014 for a man with just £20 invested, as well as a £5,000 win for a female in the county from October 2014.

The largest unclaimed prize in Outer London is £100,000, and was won by a woman in the February 2007 draw - she only has £25 invested in Premium Bonds. There are also a further four unclaimed prizes worth £10,000 and five £5,000 prizes remaining unclaimed in the region. The oldest prize that remains unclaimed was from a draw in November 1961, and was £25 belonging to a man with £40 invested.

Jill Waters continued: “As well as the top prizes, there are still over 21,000 prizes in Devon and more than 153,000 in Outer London that remain unclaimed, worth in excess of £830,000 and £6.2 million respectively.

“As people across the UK think about an annual spring clean, they may come across some old paperwork or Premium Bonds certificates. If they haven’t already, Premium Bond holders can register online at nsandi.com to manage their Bonds, as well as choosing to have all future prizes paid directly into their bank account.”

There were a total of over 2.2 million prizes paid out this month, worth more than £70 million. There were 67,605,370,043 eligible Bond numbers in March’s draw, and since the first draw in June 1957, there have been 364 million prizes paid out worth £17.2 billion.

Premium Bonds holders can check to see if they have won a prize in this month’s draw, draw’s in the last six months or if they have any unclaimed prizes for free online via www.nsandi.com/prize-checker, or download the new and improved Prize Checker app, free from Google Play or the Apple Store.

What would you do with £1 million? As part of Premium Bonds’ 60th anniversary, we want to hear your stories, whether it be the memories of buying your first Bonds or prizes won, no matter how big or small. Join the conversation on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or submit your story at http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/PB60th