How much you REALLY need in Premium Bonds to win £1m jackpot – and the truth about boosting your chances

WITH prizes ranging from £25 all the way up to £1 million, a favourite pastime for many Brits is checking their Premium Bonds to see if they have won. But can you boost your chances of winning, and could your name be holding you back from the jackpot? Sun Money takes a look. Savers dream of how they would spend the £1million Premium Bonds prize jackpot Credit: Alamy There are millions of prizes awarded every month Credit: National Savings and Investments One in three Brits hold bonds, even though a fixed-rate savings account is a better way to get a guaranteed return on your cash. But whether you love them or loathe them will likely come down to how lucky you have been in the draws. There is even data to suggest your name could have a hand in your luck. David, John, Michael and Susan are among the most common names of Premium Bonds prize winners from 2022 to December 2025. In comparison, Shirleys have been the unluckiest, only winning a prize worth £500 or more 1,623 times in that same period. However, Andrew Westhead, NS&I retail director, said: “It’s important to remember that whatever your name, the Premium Bonds draw is completely random, with each Bond having an equal chance of winning.” In recent months, two of the Sun Money team have had very different experiences – here they give you their views on whether Premium Bonds are worth your money. What are premium bonds? Premium Bonds are the nation’s favourite savings account in the UK, with over 22 million people holding £136 billion in them. These accounts are run by the government-backed National Savings and Investments (NS&I) bank, and are a bit like a lottery for your savings. Instead of traditional savings accounts, where you earn interest on your money, savers buy Bonds, which are then entered into a prize draw every month. There are two £1million jackpots available up for grabs every month, but you can also bag prizes of £100,000, £10,000, and all the way down to £25. This month, two lucky winners have won a massive £1million each. One holds £21,000 in Premium Bonds while the other has £49,850 invested. Other massive prizes this month include 83 savers who won £100,000, and one of them was a Tyne and Wear holder with just £650 in bonds. Savers love them because they’re the safest way to store your cash with a government-backed account, meaning the chances of it going bust and you losing your money are virtually non-existent. It means ALL your money is protected. In comparison, if you put your money into a regulated firm, like a bank, building society or investment firm, your money is protected up to £85,000. Another bonus is that any prize you win is tax-free, so you don’t have to pay a slice of your winnings to the taxman. But are there ways to boost your chances of winning the seven-figure prize? Here’s everything you need to know… How do they work? You can save up to £50,000 in Premium Bonds. Each bond is worth £1 and every bond is entered into a monthly prize draw. This means you could win several prizes in one month if you hold multiple bonds. You must have held each bond for at least one month for it to be entered into the prize draw. When Premium Bonds are entered into the prize draw, bond numbers are randomly selected by a system called the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, also known as ‘Ernie’. Sarah Pennells, from pensions and insurance company Royal London, said: “Ernie uses an audited, random number generator to ‘pick’ the winners. “Because it is random, it means that each £1 bond has an equal chance of winning. “Your odds depend on how many bonds you hold, as the more you have, the more likely you are to win – though remember this is still not guaranteed.” What are the odds of winning? According to NS&I, every bond entered into the prize draw has odds of winning of 22,000 to 1. As every entry is worth £1, you would theoretically need £22,000 worth of bonds to be ‘guaranteed’ a win once a month. But in reality, the odds don’t work this way – and luck is also a big factor. In fact, some people have won the huge £1million jackpot with just a small amount of cash saved. In 2004, someone from Newham, London, won £1million with just £17 in Premium Bonds, having held those bonds since 1959. And one winner from Staffordshire who invested just £1 in 1960 won £25,000 in September 2024. Be warned that NS&I changes its prize rate regularly, so the odds can change at any time. This “prize fund rate” is an estimate of how much you should win based on the amount you have saved, and this is currently 3.8 per cent. You can check your odds using an online calculator, such as premiumbondsprizes.com. But you might have a better chance of winning a small prize on another lottery game. For example, Thunderball has odds of one in 29 for winning its lowest £3 prize, while RSPB’s lottery has odds of one in 240. However, the lowest premium bond prizes are higher than the lowest on offer from most lottery games, and the chances of picking up a top prize on most lottery games are very slim. For example, the odds of winning the jackpot on the Euromillions are one in 140million, while you’ve got a one in 145million chance of bagging the jackpot in the Lotto draw. It is also free to enter the premium bonds draw as you don’t lose any money for entering, while most lottery games cost to enter. ‘I haven’t won a penny… is my NAME to blame?’ Lucy Andrews, Deputy Money Editor (Features) Deputy Money Editor Lucy Andrews has fallen out of love with Premium Bonds Credit: Darren Fletcher I used to love Premium Bonds. I would eagerly open my prize checker app, usually win £50 or £100 if I was lucky, and feel incredibly smug.Now it feels like every time I open my app – like today – I win… absolutely nothing. I haven’t won a single penny for months, and now I’m wondering whether I’m better off ditching Premium Bonds and stashing my cash in an easy-access account. So I decided to dig into the stats to see if I could boost my chances of winning. We looked at data covering all the lucky winners who have bagged the top £1million jackpot back in February. It looks like I might need to start saving MUCH more in order to boost my chances of scooping a £1million prize. The average amount jackpot winners invested in Premium Bonds was a whopping £25,238. After draining a chunk of money out of my account to pay for my wedding three years ago, it seems like my chances of winning a prize have slimmed down. Perhaps I need to be more patient. The average time between buying a bond and it hitting the jackpot was 5.3 years. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a “lucky” first name. Data for prizes over £500 shows that Susans and Margarets win the most prizes. I have to say, Margaret Andrews does have a nice ring to it… Now that I’ve done my detective work, I’m going to seriously consider moving my cash to a savings account that pays a high interest rate.The top-paying easy-access account is offered by Revolut, which pays 5% interest. If I stashed £1,000 in there and drip-fed £50 a month into that account, after four years I would have saved £4,000 of my own money and earned £680 in interest. But am I prepared to give up the chase of maybe, someday, winning £1million? The jury’s out… ‘I’m on a winning streak… but my luck has to run out’ Fran Ivens, Money Editor (News) Money Editor Fran Ivens has had better luck, but is worried about keeping her cash in NS&I long term Credit: Jon Bond Okay, I’ll admit it – I like premium bonds. I know that a market-leading savings account would give me a guaranteed return that beats inflation so my cash isn’t at risk of losing money, but let’s be honest here, it’s just not as fun. I only started investing in Premium Bonds in March, so I am wary that my beginner’s luck may skew my view, but I enjoy the process of checking the app every month to see if I’ve won. And it’s working out for me – I won £500 last month and £50 the month before. That’s a much healthier return than if I had put my cash in an easy-access savings account. The top rates on easy-access savings accounts are still only around 5% and fixed accounts – that limit when you can take your money out – are no higher. Premium Bonds are currently giving me a great return and I can take the money out whenever I like. My account is set up so my winnings are reinvested to buy more bonds, increasing my chance of another win next month. And if I hit the £1million jackpot (you never know) I’ll bag the cash tax-free. However, the proper advice is that, on average, Premium Bonds pay out 3.8% – well below top rates- and there is always the risk that you win nothing at all. I buy my goddaughter Premium Bonds every year for her birthday but I am considering switching the money to Junior ISA as she hasn’t had a win in a while. So while I am having my fun, I think, longer term, I’ll do the sensible thing and put my cash into a savings account.. my luck has to run out sometime. Can you boost your chances of winning? Technically, the only way of boosting your chances of winning a Premium Bonds prize is to buy more bonds. But we’ve taken a deeper dive into the stats to see if there are any hidden winning Premium Bonds trends you should be aware of. We looked at the winning £1million jackpot bond codes that were drawn over the past six months (since March). Each bond has a unique code of 10 or 11 characters, made up of a selection of numbers and two letters. The codes do not include the letters I, O and U because NS&I says the letters I and O look like the numbers one and zero. It says U can look like a misprint. The most common numbers which appeared across all 12 winning bond codes were “6” and “2”, which both featured 15 times, followed by “1”, which featured 13 times. The most common letter was “V”, which featured four times, followed by “N” and “F”, which both featured three times. You also don’t need to have waited that long to win a prize. Since Premium Bonds £1million prize were launched in 1994, 42 bond holders have won the jackpot after having Premium Bonds for less than six months, according to NS&I figures provided to This Is Money. Meanwhile, the luckiest regions in the UK for winning the jackpot last year were Norwich and Cumbria, each home to two lucky winners who scooped the £1million prize. Premium Bonds top facts There have been 554 millionaire winners since the jackpot prize was introduced in 1994. There are currently five ‘Agent Millions’ who go out and deliver the news face-to-face each month to the £1million jackpot winners. Since the first draw in June 1957, more than 803 million prizes have been won with a total value of £39 billion. Almost 71.7million prizes were won in 2025 worth £4,950million. 22 children won prizes of at least £100,000 or more in 2025 What are the pros and cons? One of the biggest advantages of Premium Bonds is that you have the potential to win a jackpot of £1million, which is a life-changing amount of money for most people. Another major advantage is that the accounts are tax-free, which could be useful for people who either win a significant sum on Premium Bonds, or for those who are likely to use up their personal savings allowance. The personal savings allowance – the amount you can earn on your savings tax-free – is £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers, reducing to £500 for higher rate taxpayers and £0 for additional rate payers. “You can also access the money fairly quickly at any time,” Ms Pennells said. However, there are some downsides to holding Premium Bonds that are worth considering. For one, there is the chance that you never win anything at all, or you only win small prizes, so your money might have worked harder in a savings account. NS&I data from March shows that more than 14.4million holders – equivalent to around two thirds – have never won a prize. Ms Pennells said: “The prize fund rate is now below many interest rates offered by traditional savings accounts, where your money is guaranteed to earn interest, compared to having it sit somewhere where you have just a slim chance of winning the top prize”. Are you better off saving elsewhere? Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, looks at whether it's a regular savings account is a better place to stash your cash. “Premium bond rates are now significantly below the top rates in the market, meaning savers are paying a hefty premium for the safety and brand name of NS&I. “The top easy-access account on the market pays 5% interest, meaning that someone with £20,000 of savings will be sacrificing £280 of interest a year by opting for Premium Bonds. “But that also assumes they get the average return on the account – which many don’t. “Considering many Premium Bond holders will never win a prize and the average expected return is lower than the top easy-access account, savers could well be better off with a guaranteed return elsewhere. “Premium Bonds’ big selling point is that any money you win in prizes is tax free, which makes them more attractive for higher earners. “Plus, if the savings rates on standard savings accounts don’t excite you, then you can gamble on winning one of the top Premium Bond prizes – after all, someone has to win it. “Another big appeal of Premium Bonds is that they are run by the government, so they are seen as the safest-of-safe place to keep your money. “So, there are a few groups where Premium Bonds are a very attractive option, but for most, the safety of a regular interest rate will be better, and savers may want to shop around for the best rates on offer.” However, if you’re feeling more adventurous, why not consider investing in the stock market? This is best for people who have a savings goal that is more than five years away, such as those saving for a house, or for retirement. Experts advise locking your cash away in investments for at least five years so you can mitigate any dips in the market, and allow your money to recover. A stocks and shares ISA is a great place to start – you can open one through a high street bank, or investment platforms like AJ Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown. You can invest up to £20,000 each tax year in these accounts and any gains you make are tax-free. Look at reviews and understand what charges you’ll need to pay before selecting a platform. Don’t forget your pension, which is probably the most tax-efficient way to save your cash. You can save up to £60,000 a year into a pension or 100 per cent of your annual earnings, whichever is lower, and most importantly, you can get tax relief on your contributions.