Lucky Premium Bond holder scoops £1m jackpot in only the second draw joining an exclusive group of quick winners in the process…
- Bonds must be held for a full month after purchase before entering the draw
- Surrey saver became just the 21st to win £1m inside the first two months
- One saver last July won at the first attempt, one of only 12 to do so
A Surrey saver has become only the 21st Premium Bondholder in the 64-year history of the draw to win the £1million jackpot within the first two months of buying the eligible bond.
The saver turned a £10,000 holding purchased in February into one of the jackpot prizes over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Because Britain’s best-loved savings product must be held for a full month after purchase, last month would have been the first draw his £10,000 chunk would have been entered.
Party time: One Premium Bond saver secured a 9,900% return in just 2 months
The investment was added to an existing haul which meant he now holds £43,590 in total.
However, the quick-fire win makes for a 9,900 per cent return on the £10,000 purchase, and a 2,194 per cent one on the full holding.
It means the winner from Surrey has become only the ninth Premium Bond saver since 1994 to win one of the two £1million monthly jackpots in the second draw their Bonds were eligible for.
The £1million prize was first introduced in 1994. This was scaled up to two £1million prizes in 2005.
A further 12 have received an even quicker visit from Agent Million, winning at the first attempt.
Of these 21, two have come in the last 12 months, with a saver from Tyne and Wear seeing a £20,000 investment in May 2020 coming good the same July, the first time they could’ve won.
On average, between the June 2020 and May 2021 draws, a millionaire waited 51 months from the date of purchase to their win.
However, there was a huge variety, from the lucky saver who secured a 4,900 per cent return in a month to someone from South Scotland whose patience paid off when a £5,000 holding purchased in March 2003 hit the jackpot last September.
| Purchase date: | £1m win date: | Eligible months between purchase and win: |
|---|---|---|
| Feb-21 | May-21 | 2 |
| Sep-18 | May-21 | 28 |
| Feb-18 | Apr-21 | 37 |
| Nov-20 | Apr-21 | 4 |
| Jul-17 | Mar-21 | 45 |
| Jul-17 | Mar-21 | 45 |
| Jun-20 | Feb-21 | 7 |
| Jun-17 | Feb-21 | 43 |
| May-18 | Jan-21 | 31 |
| Jan-08 | Jan-21 | 155 |
| Jun-20 | Dec-20 | 5 |
| Jan-16 | Dec-20 | 58 |
| Jun-13 | Nov-20 | 89 |
| Nov-16 | Nov-20 | 47 |
| Mar-17 | Oct-20 | 44 |
| Jun-14 | Oct-20 | 75 |
| Jul-15 | Sep-20 | 61 |
| Mar-03 | Sep-20 | 209 |
| Nov-10 | Aug-20 | 128 |
| Jun-18 | Aug-20 | 25 |
| May-20 | Jul-20 | 1 |
| Mar-17 | Jul-20 | 39 |
| Jan-17 | Jun-20 | 38 |
| Feb-20 | Jun-20 | 3 |
| Source: This is Money analysis of NS&I figures | ||
The first time a Bondholder won the jackpot at the first attempt was in September 1994, when a saver from Essex purchased £5,025 worth of Bonds in July.
It also happened twice in 2018, in March and November.
And one saver from Gloucestershire won at the first attempt in December 1995 with a holding of just £1,026, equating to a return of 99,900 per cent.
The other jackpot winner this month is a man from Wiltshire, who holds £34,000 and bought the lucky number in September 2018, which has left him with a little longer wait.
Premium Bonds Winners
| Prize | Area | Value of bond |
| £1,000,000 | Surrey | £10,000 |
| £1,000,000 | Wiltshire | £30,000 |
| £100,000 | Surrey | £50,000 |
| £100,000 | York | £40,000 |
| £100,000 | Devon | £5,000 |
| £100,000 | Cambridgeshire | £500 |
| £100,000 | Staffordshire | £10,000 |
| £50,000 | Somerset | £15,000 |
More May 2021 winners
In total, some £89.8billion worth of prizes were paid out by Treasury backed National Savings & Investments this month in 3.12million prizes. Five savers won £100,000, 10 £50,000, 20 £25,000 and 49 £10,000.
Any individual £1 Bond has 34,500 to one odds of winning any tax-free prize of £25 or above in the monthly draw, with the effective annual rate sitting at 1 per cent.
With best buy savings rates less than half that at the moment, those despondent at low returns may fancy chancing their arm at the hope of a win, although not everyone will do well, or see returns quite as quickly as this month’s jackpot winner.
You can check if you’e won using the This is Money tool here.