Just 6 per cent of Premium Bonds prizes dished out between February 2025 and January 2026 went to those holding £10,000 or less, new data suggests.
Last month there were 6.2million tax-free prizes paid out in NS&I’s tax-free monthly prize draw.
But a Freedom of Information request by AJ Bell shows the vast majority of prizes are won by those with five figures held in Premium Bonds.
The FOI also shows that just 1 per cent of prizes went to those holding less than £1,000.
The average amount kept in Premium Bonds is £5,406, but the typical holding for those who won a prize in the past year was £23,397.
Long odds: Savers who hold less than £1,000 in Premium Bonds have less than a 1 per cent chance of winning a prize
Almost two thirds Premium Bond holders, equivalent to 14.3million, have never won a prize AJ Bell’s analysis shows. The average holding of these savers was £128.91.
‘This highlights the significant disadvantage that many account holders with smaller amounts face when it comes to the likelihood of winning a prize,’ says AJ Bell’s director of personal finance Laura Suter.
Savers can invest a maximum of £50,000 in the Treasury-backed savings account.
Each Premium Bond is worth £1, so the more money you hold in Premium Bonds the greater your chance of winning a prize.
The winning bond numbers are selected at random by a machine called Ernie, short for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.
In this month’s prize draw – the last draw where the prize fund rate will stand at 3.6 per cent – both of the £1million jackpot prizes were won by savers holding the maximum £50,000.
In the three draws so far this year, the six £1million winners have all had the maximum £50,000 allowed in Premium Bonds.
It means in the past 12 draws, more than half of the £1million winners – a total of 15 – held the maximum of £50,000, This is Money analysis shows, or 62.5 per cent.
From next month’s prize draw, the Premium Bonds prize fund rate will drop to 3.3 per cent.
The Treasury-backed bank will also lengthen the odds for each £1 bond winning a prize to 23,000 to 1 from the current 22,000 to 1.
However, despite the long odds of smaller holdings winning big, it does happen every month.
For example, in the March 2026 draw, someone from Greater Manchester scooped £50,000 off a £200 holding and another holder from Wiltshire won £50,000 off £925.
But the prize list is dominated by those with bigger pots.
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