Premium Bonds
This is our fantastic monthly bonus game.
Every player who takes out a monthly subscription is automatically entered into one of our special bonus syndicates where, on top of the usual Daily Draw, Wednesday and Saturday UK National lottery draws, and the Friday Euro Millions draw and raffle, they also get a number of entries into the monthly Premium Bond draw!
What are Premium Bonds? A monthly draw which takes place on the first Monday of each month. The draw is organised and operated by NS&I (National Savings and Investments). This draw has been taking place every month since November 1956.
With NS&I you can be sure that all of your prize money is absolutely 100% secure, however much you win. We can give you this guarantee because National Savings and Investments are backed by Her Majesty’s UK Treasury, part of the British Government.
They hold a prize draw every month with a £1 million jackpot plus over a million other tax-free prizes.
History of Premium Bonds
In his Budget of 17 April 1956 Harold Macmillan, the then British Prime Minister, announced that Premium Bonds were to be launched to reduce inflation and to encourage thrift among those who were attracted not by earning interest but by winning prizes.
The first was bought on 1 November 1956 by Alderman Sir Cuthbert Ackroyd, who later became Lord Mayor of London. By the end of the first day, £5 million were sold.
A prize draw number generator ERNIE, which stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, was designed to produce numbers which would win prizes. By the time the first draw took place at the Bond headquarters in Lytham St Anne’s, Lancashire, UK on Saturday 1 June 1957, £82 million had been invested. By the end of August 1957 the amount invested had reached £100 million. The top prize in the first draw was £1,000.
However, since the 1990s, Premium Bonds have undergone a substantial renaissance with the amount invested rising from £4 billion in 1994 to £25 billion in 2004. In 2003/2004 £7.5 billion Premium Bonds were bought.
11-digit Premium Bonds
Premium Bonds have become so popular that NS&I has had to introduce 11-digit Premium Bond numbers to cope with the demand. Premium Bonds with eight, nine and ten digits are still eligible for every draw.
ERNIE 4, the machine that randomly draws the winning Premium Bond numbers every month, was introduced in April 2004 in anticipation of needing to generate 11-digit Bond numbers in the near future. ERNIE 4 was tested and received full accreditation that he generates all Bond numbers at random regardless of their length. Therefore every Bond number, no matter whether it has eight, nine ten or eleven digits and when it was purchased, has a separate and equal chance of winning a prize.
Every month NS&I give away more than 1 million tax-free Premium Bond prizes, including the £1 million jackpot.
Don't forget that you can join more than one syndicate - the more you join the more opportunities you have to win - just click on 'Play Now' to join more syndicates
