Press Release

ERNIE TO CREATE MORE PREMIUM BOND MILLIONAIRES TO CELEBRATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY

5 September 2006

• FIVE chances to win £1 million in December 2006 and June 2007
• Estimated prize fund of £88m in December 2006
• More than one million other tax-free* prizes in each draw
• Odds of winning any prize remain at 24,000 to 1
• Buy by 31 October to be in the December draw
• Premium Bonds launched 50 years ago on 1 November 2006 - archive footage, unique interviews and photo opportunities are available

National Savings and Investments (NS&I) will give away five £1 million prizes in each of its two anniversary draws as part of the celebrations of 50 years of Premium Bonds. In both December 2006 and June 2007, there will be three extra jackpots as well as the usual two, giving customers five chances to win £1 million for two months only. Plus there will still be over a million other tax-free* prizes.

The extra prizes are being introduced by NS&I as part of the Premium Bonds' 50th anniversary celebrations and are in addition to the normal prizes. The odds of a £1,000 holding winning one of the jackpot prizes is estimated to improve from 16 million to 1 to 6.5 million to 1 for December and June. The odds of a £10,000 holding winning one of the jackpot prizes is estimated to improve from 1.6 million to 1 to 646,000 to 1. The overall odds of winning any prize with a £1 Bond will remain the same at 24,000 to 1. 

For customers to have the chance of taking part in these exciting anniversary draws, they must have bought their Premium Bonds before 31 October 2006.

Sharing success

The Premium Bond prize fund rate will increase from 3.15% to 3.30% tax-free*, for the two anniversary draws**.

Premium Bonds first went on sale on 1 November 1956 and the first draw was on 1 June 1957, the anniversary draws are to celebrate these dates. Prize draws between the anniversaries will be unchanged**.

Premium Bonds were designed to encourage saving among people who were not attracted by interest but by winning cash prizes. They were immediately a success story and continue to be incredibly popular - in fact more Premium Bonds were bought in the last five years than in the previous 45 years put together.

23 million people, almost 40% of the population own more than £32 billion Premium Bonds.

Peter Cornish, NS&I's marketing director said: "As Premium Bonds approach their 50th anniversary they continue to be more popular than ever and we wanted to share this success. We always pay out as much as we can afford in total prizes but for these two months we wanted to give something extra back. That is why NS&I is introducing these extra prizes in addition to the normal prizes in December and June.

"Premium Bonds appeal to people who want an exciting way to save money and relish the chance of winning the jackpot, or one of the other million prizes we give away, safe in the knowledge their investment is 100% secure because Premium Bonds and NS&I are backed by HM Treasury and customers can get their money back at anytime."

Prize structure in December

As well as three additional jackpots, the December prize draw will also see a small increase in some of the other prizes.

In December's draw ERNIE will give away over one million prizes worth more than an estimated £88 million.

Comparison of November and December 2006

	NOVEMBER 2006 (estimate) 3.15% prize fund rate and 7%-6%-87% prize split	DECEMBER 2006 (estimate) 3.30% prize fund rate and 11%-6%-83% prize split
£1,000,000	2	5
£100,000	8	10
£50,000	15	18
£25,000	32	38
£10,000	78	96
£5,000	156	191
£1,000	2,024	2,130
£500	6,072	6,390
£100	137,304	137,483
£50	1,193,988	1,198,652
Value	£84,399,800	£88,770,900
Total number of Prizes	1,339,679	1,345,013

Premium Bonds 50th

NS&I will be celebrating Premium Bonds' 50th anniversary on 1 November 2006. The following media materials will be available to journalists and broadcasters in the run up to 1 November:

Footage and pictures of Premium Bonds over the years

Statistics on sales, odds and prizes given away

Historical summary of Premium Bonds

Interviews with Agent Million, the person who hand-delivers the jackpot prize each month, engineers, and winners through the ages

Premium Bond Facts

The Premium Bond prize fund rate is currently 3.15% p.a. tax-free*, equivalent to 5.25% for a higher rate taxpayer and 3.93% for a basic rate taxpayer.  The odds of winning are 24,000 to 1 and, with average luck, an investor with £30,000 in Premium Bonds can expect to win 15 tax-free* prizes a year - more than one a month.

Premium Bonds can be bought online at www.nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 007 007, by post, over the counter at Post Office® branches and also through www.tesco.com. Customers can pick up leaflets at over 700 Tesco stores.

Like all NS&I products, Premium Bonds offer investors 100% security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes from winning tax-free* prizes.

Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in 1957, over 140 million tax-free* prizes worth £9 billion have been given away.  Prizes range from £50 to £1 million. Ernie has created 164 millionaires since the £1 million jackpot was introduced in 1994.

There is currently £30 million in unclaimed prizes.  There is no time limit on claiming prizes.  Premium Bond investors can check to see if they have won by logging on to www.nsandi.com and using the Premium Bond prize checker.