Released
on: June 3, 2009, 11:14 am
Author: Gill Stephens
Industry: Financial
NS&I's June jackpot of £1million has been paid to a Surrey resident, who bought his winning bond in March 2006.
The
winner, a gentleman from Surrey who wishes to remain anonymous, became ERNIE's
233rd Premium Bond millionaire. He said of the win: "When Agent Million
knocked on my door and told me that I'd won the jackpot I thought it was a practical
joke! I'm still in shock but once the news sinks in I cannot wait to share the
good fortune by treating my family to a lovely summer holiday."
In Surrey, more than 535,300 people hold Premium Bonds worth £1.4 billion.
There are more than 13,500 unclaimed
Premium Bonds in total worth at least £796,000. This is the 13th time
that the £1 million jackpot has been won in Surrey.
In March, NS&I announced that
from the April prize draw onwards, one of the two monthly £1 million Premium
Bond jackpot prizes will be replaced by a wider mix of other prizes in the monthly
draws.
Similarly, a new £25 Premium
Bonds prize has been introduced to the draws alongside the existing prizes
(ranging from £50 to £1 million). These changes have been introduced
because Premium Bond holders say that maintaining the chances of winning tax-free
prizes on a regular basis is particularly important to them.
In June's draw ERNIE paid out more than 1.1 million prizes, amounting to more
than £33 million in value. There were 40,520,994,477 eligible numbers
in the Premium Bond draw.
Notes
to editors:
1. In June there were 1,125,583 prizes and a total prize fund of £33,767,475.
2. All Premium Bonds prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
3. Pictures of ERNIE (including the new ERNIE 4 machine), Agent Million and
people buying Premium Bonds are available in high-resolution jpeg format from
the NS&I media team.
About
NS&I
National Savings and Investments is one of the largest savings organisations
in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to almost 27 million
customers. NS&I is best known for Premium Bonds, but also offers a range
of savings accounts including easy access savings accounts, savings bonds, investment
accounts and children's bonus bonds. All products offer 100% capital security,
because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
Further information and digital images are available from the NS&I media team. An ISDN line is available for interviews.
NS&I PR contact:
Gill Stephens
National Savings and Investments
375 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8SD
020 7348 93449
www.nsandi.com