Premium Bond prizes

That's what they say, rockgran, but I do not think it is true.
If you look at their website, they give a list of the large winners. If you have nothing better to do, you can order the list in area, amount held, amount of the bond, date bought, etc.
It's so obvious that large blocks win most.
Twice we won £1000, but that was when we had the maximum, after we had sold a house or a business and put the money into bonds. One year we got over 7% return, but again that was when we had a large block.
Most of the prizes go to bonds bought since 2000 as well, so if you are cashing any in, cash the older ones first.
My brother-in-law's father was an investment banker for TSB, and he used to get all the spare cash from all family members to buy blocks, any winnings to be shared out at the end of the year depending on the amount of your share.

That's a good point, rockgran!

I'm thinking of buying some more! There's no advantage in having a block of numbers, just having a lot! Each bond has a separate and random chance (that's what "ERNIE" means) but the more bonds you have the more chances you get. At least f you cash any in you won't have to suffer seeing that number come up - unlike stopping the lottery.

The Gospel according to Matthew 13:12

POGS, not a fraud. I just feel the winnings are skewed.

I have just upped my PBs to the new maximum so I am hoping that will prod Ernie into picking a million for me

I am no statistician, but if you have a lot of bonds, you are more likely to get a prize of any sort than someone with only a few, so more likely to get a big prize too. Early bond buyers couldn't buy big blocks, as people do now when they use them as an investment.

I'm sure newer bonds win more often than older ones

Statistically there could be something in that claim jings ..... the major prize winners are invariably those who have big/maximum holdings and decades ago no-one was able to have £30,000 worth.

Any statisticians feel free to correct!

apricot

I have to ask after reading your last post, I don't exactly understand your OP.

Were you seriously linking Premium Bonds to some sort of government fraud.

I'm sure newer bonds win more often than older ones.

Oi, I claimed it first, rosequartz!

I was going to say that it's my turn next month, but there are two £1 million each month now apricot, so it's going to be both of us ....

I know what the odds of winning are and for the past 5 years I always had about 5 small wins each year, which was better than having my money in the bank.
Maybe having only won £25 this year means I'm going to get £1 million next month. Or maybe not...

That's it, J52, the occasional £25 keeps reminding you that your numbers are still in the system somewhere, along with the hope that the person from the Premium Bonds will come knocking on the door with a cheque for a million on the 1st of the month!
Good psychology!
Although £100,000 would do me quite nicely.

Regularly get basic prize, it was £50, now £25, but I have had two together one month. Still works out more than interest from the bank. I live in hope of a biggie! X

I suppose if the numbers are being picked randomly by computer then there is more chance of it picking one of your numbers out of a large block than one of your numbers out of several randomly scattered blocks.

I've had over 4% return on mine so far this year, which is a good result in the present climate. I'd rather have a bit of a (safe) gamble than the certainty of knowing I'd get 1.5% from a savings account. Of course I anticipate winning one of the million pound prizes in next week's draw.

Basic details of the big winners - number of bonds held, area they live in - are on the National Savings website. In November one of the £1m prizes was won by someone in Leeds, who had just bought their £10,000 worth in September. So this would be the first draw those bonds had gone into.

I have mine in large blocks but still just get the odd £25-75. I have just remembered that many years ago before I bought my bonds, my DH had about £200 worth and one month he won £1000. Since we have had a lot more, not much luck.

I have a substantial number of bonds and win £25 - possibly 8 months out of 12. So I have a lot of blocks of 25 in my portfolio. But I've noticed that the winning bond comes almost always from the larger blocks I bought 20 odd years ago - rarely from the blocks of 25 which I've won. Don't get that.

Somebody told me that you should cash the lot and then re-buy them in large blocks?

I seem to receive more from PBs than I do in interest on some of my bank accounts. I bought them instead of doing the lottery and you don't lose your initial stake.
A few years ago someone in our area won a million and they only had a £1 bond, must have had it since the 50s or 60s because after that the minimum amount of investment was £100.

I'm quite lucky at winning small sums regularly from the PBs but have always had an intuition that I will have a big win one day. I do win a lot of raffles but then I always buy a lot of tickets!

We had premium bonds for ages and won nigh on zilch.

Cashed them in and spent the money!

Whey-hey !

I am about to receive a legacy of about £25,000 and plan to put it in premium bonds. The money we have in savings is earning peanuts (we don't go for high risk) so I thought I might just go for a gamble this time and enjoy the suspense each month!

I've had several small wins over the years. I find it hard to believe that Premium Bonds are actually crooked. I think it's more to do with the recession and very low interest rates on savings, so people feel they prefer these Bonds instead. Hence, more Bonds held therefore reduces our chances of winning something.

There is an interesting article on this website www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds
It says the prize money fluctuates and is currently 1.35 % of holdings given average luck. As some savings accounts yield much less than this, it seems a reasonable deal with a bit of gamble thrown in.
We put quite a big chunk of money in a few years ago and have never won more than the odd £25. Probably not even the 1.35% we might hope to get.