Press Release

JULY'S £1 MILLION JACKPOT WINNING NUMBERS

3 July 2006

One million other tax-free* prizes worth almost £75m also awarded

Number 1 A person living in NOTTINGHAM Bond number: 82RN348722 Bought in September 1998 Bond Value: £500 Total holdings: £17,500	Number 2 A person living in HAMPSHIRE Bond number: 53DG915893 Bought in December 1999 Bond Value: £5,000 Total holdings: £30,000

Happy retirement

The winner from Nottingham - who has chosen to remain anonymous - said: "I can't believe my luck. I'm a pensioner so I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the money, I can really enjoy a different kind of retirement now, but to be honest I'll probably use a lot of it to help out and treat my family."

Hampshire winner

The second winner from Hampshire is keeping their identity a closely-guarded secret. The lucky winner was told in person by one of NS&I's Agent Millions, the mystery people who pay a personal visit to the jackpot winners to give them the good news.

Regional facts

In Nottingham, more than 380,000 people own Premium Bonds worth over £415 million.  There are more than 4200 unclaimed prizes in the county, worth almost £250,000.  This is the fourth time someone from Nottinghamshire has scooped the jackpot and the second time this year.

This is Hampshire's sixth £1 million Premium Bond jackpot winner since the top prize was introduced in 1994.  Over 720,000 people own Premium Bonds worth almost £950 million in the county. There are approximately 11,000 unclaimed prizes in the area, worth almost £620,000.

In July's draw ERNIE gave away over one million prizes worth more than £76 million.

Number and value of prizes awarded in July 2006

£1 million-2

£100,000-7

£50,000-13

£25,000-27

£10,000-67

£5,000-135

£1,000-1,839

£500-5,517

£100-42,194

£50-1,249,848

Prize value                  Number of prizes

£76,679,300                  1,299,649

 

Premium Bond Facts

The Premium Bond prize fund rate is 2.95% tax-free*, equivalent to 4.92% for a higher rate taxpayer and 3.69% 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 £30 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 138 million tax-free* prizes worth £8.8 billion have been given away.  Prizes range from £50 to £1 million.

There is currently over £25 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.