Press Release

JANUARY'S £1 MILLION JACKPOT WINNING NUMBERS

2 January 2007

One million other tax-free* prizes worth over £95m also awarded

Number 1
A woman living in Kent
Bond number: 039GH186190
Bought in July 2000
Bond value: £5,000
Total holdings: £5,503

Number 2
A woman living in Cheshire
Bond number: 096ZH499775
Bought in December 2002
Bond value: £5,000
Total holdings: £30,000

Celebrating Premium Bond holders

The winner from the Kent, who is keeping her identity a closely-guarded secret, exclaimed: "This is such a wonderful start to a new year.  You never know when you are going to get lucky.  It's funny, I never thought I'd win the jackpot as I don't have anything near the maximum invested but then ERNIE picked my number! This has certainly brightened up my Christmas!"

The winner from Cheshire has also chosen to remain anonymous.  "I got such a shock when I was told I'd won!  I will definitely put a big chunk back into savings but my family and I will want to spoil ourselves a bit first."  The winners were told in person by NS&I's Agent Millions - M1 and M2 - the mystery people who pay a personal visit to the jackpot winners to give them the good news.

Regional facts

In Kent, more than 765,000 people own Premium Bonds worth almost £1.1 billion.  There are 11,344 unclaimed prizes in the area, worth over £650,000.  This is the sixth time a jackpot winner has emerged in the West Midlands.

This is Cheshire's fourth £1 million Premium Bond jackpot winner since the top prize was introduced in 1994. In Cheshire, more than 610,000 people own Premium Bonds worth over £800 million.  There are 6,089 unclaimed prizes in the county, worth over £340,000.

In January's draw ERNIE gave away over one million prizes worth more than £97 million.

Number and value of prizes awarded in January 2007

£1 million - 2
£100,000 - 10
£50,000 - 19
£25,000 - 38
£10,000 - 97
£5,000 - 194
£1,000 - 2,346
£500 - 7,038
£100 - 273,104
£50 - 1,154,541

Prize value: £97,742,450
Number of prizes: 1,437,389

Premium Bond Facts

The Premium Bond prize fund rate is 3.40% tax-free*, equivalent to 5.66% for a higher rate taxpayer and 4.25% 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.

23 million people have more than £34 billion invested in Premium Bonds.

Premium Bonds can be bought online at www.nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 007 007, by post and over the counter at Post Office® branches. 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 146.8 million tax-free* prizes worth almost £9.3 billion have been given away.  Prizes range from £50 to £1 million.

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.