Two in Three Premium Bonds Holders Have Never Won a Prize
By Helen Kirrane
Updated: 11:20 EDT, 30 April 2025
According to a Freedom of Information request to National Savings and Investments by stockbroker AJ Bell, two in three current Premium Bonds holders – amounting to some 14.4million – have never won a prize. The figure is based on prize data from February 1994 onwards, the same year the first £1million prize was introduced to the monthly prize draw by National Savings and Investments.
The Premium Bonds scheme, which is loved by Britons for the thrill of the lottery-style prize draw, has a whopping £127.7billion parked in it, according to AJ Bell, with the average holding sitting at £5,406. However, there are likely to be millions of Premium Bonds holders who hold just a few hundred pounds or less.
The average holding for the 5.1million Premium Bond holders who won a prize in the last 12 months comes in at £23,397, almost quadruple the average holding. Four in five winners who won a prize in the last 12 months won more than once during that period.
Millions more £50 and £100 prizes have been dished out since 2022, and they now make up a larger proportion of winning prizes than the lowest £25 prize. The vast majority of Premium Bond prizes were worth £100 or less in 2024.
Charlene Young, senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, said: “While there has been a recent shift to most winners receiving prizes of £50 or £100, instead of the lowest £25 on offer, the vast majority of winning prizes in 2024 were still worth £100 or less.”
The Premium Bonds prize fund rate – the average return a Premium Bonds saver would get in a year – currently sits at 3.8 per cent, with the odds of winning a prize in the draw at 22,000 to one. The more you hold, the more likely you are to win a monthly prize. However, this does not mean that savers who keep money in Premium Bonds will get anything like a 3.8 per cent return on their savings, as many may win nothing in a given year.
Instead of paying a monthly or annual interest rate, Premium Bonds holders have the chance to win monthly prizes from £25 all the way up to £1million. But there’s a chance even the average holding won’t win a prize, so savers could do better by keeping their money in a high-interest easy-access account.
NS&I cut the prize fund rate from 4.4 per cent to 4.15 per cent in December 2024. The prize fell again to 4 per cent in January 2025 before the most recent cut to 3.8 per cent.
If a saver were to keep the average holding of £5,406 in an easy-access account paying the Premium Bonds prize fund of 3.8 per cent, they would stand to earn £616 in interest over the course of a year, albeit if the rate doesn’t change. They could do better still if they kept it in the best easy-access account which pays 4.76 per cent and could earn £669 over the course of a year.
This is Money has been informed by This is Money that the odds of winning are 22,000 to one. Premium Bonds holders need to wait a full month before their bonds are eligible to be entered into the prize draw.
There are currently over 22million people holding Premium Bonds, with the scheme offering a unique savings opportunity with the chance to win tax-free prizes.
The data obtained by AJ Bell also revealed that the number of higher value prizes has dipped. In April’s draw, there were four fewer £100,000 prizes than in the February draw, down from 82 to 78.
Meanwhile, there were 157 £50,000 prizes, down from 164 in February’s draw, as well as 15 fewer £25,000 prizes and 39 fewer £10,000 ones.
In conclusion, while Premium Bonds offer a fun and exciting way to save, with the chance to win big prizes, the odds of winning are long, and savers may be better off keeping their money in a high-interest easy-access account.
The source of this article is This is Money.
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