Every Premium Bond within the month-to-month draw has the identical probability of profitable a prize
Premium Bonds holders might wish to make an account change (Picture: Getty)
NS&I has issued an announcement concerning the Premium Bonds guidelines as an attention-grabbing theme has emerged trying on the prime winners for 2026. Premium Bonds holders might imagine their probabilities of ever profitable the £1million are vanishingly skinny. However taking a look at all of the £1million prize winners up to now this yr, there’s a widespread trait it’s possible you’ll wish to observe.
Every Premium Bond has an equal probability of being paired with one of many prizes on provide, with the chances of profitable for every £1 Bond presently at 22,000 to at least one. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of the prizes on provide are for small quantities.
For instance, greater than six million prizes within the February 2026 draw had been for £25 or £50, of a complete of simply over 6.183 million prizes. There are solely two £1million jackpot prizes in every month’s draw, so your odds of taking residence the highest prize are certainly very small.
The 4 prime prize winners for 2026 have hailed from numerous components of the UK, with a winner every from Liverpool, Central Bedfordshire, Suffolk and Berkshire.
However all of the jackpot prize winners for this yr up to now have this in widespread: all of them held the utmost of £50,000 in Bonds going into the draw. So did most of the winners of the £100,000 and £50,000 prizes for February.
In actual fact, trying on the excessive worth prizes for the February 2026 draw – all prizes for £5,000 or extra – greater than half of them had been gained by folks with £50,000 in complete holdings. The truth is the extra Bonds you’ve going into the draw every month, the extra alternatives you’ve for a number of of them to be paired with a prize.
Calculations by Martin Lewis’ Cash Saving Professional point out that in case you maintain the utmost £50,000, you’ll win a median common of £1,600 a yr, with an efficient prize fund fee of three.2 %. The prize fund fee for the scheme is 3.6 % – that is the quantity that’s paid out over a yr relative to the overall quantity of Bonds that go into the draw.
NS&I lower the prize fund fee 3 times final yr, whereas the chances of profitable for every £1 have stayed the identical, at 22,000 to at least one, since December 2024. This implies your probabilities of any Bond profitable a prize stay the identical however your probabilities of an enormous prize win have dropped.
An NS&I spokesperson stated: “Each Premium Bonds quantity has a separate and equal probability of profitable a prize every month. Nevertheless, the extra Bonds you maintain, the higher your probabilities of profitable and the faster it’s possible you’ll win a prize.
“Whereas our 4 £1million jackpot winners up to now this yr every held the utmost £50,000, we have additionally seen winners with a lot smaller holdings, together with a 2025 jackpot winner from Cleveland who gained £1 million with a holding of £100.”
One method to enhance your holdings is to arrange your account in order that any profitable are robotically used to purchase extra Bonds, thus rising your probabilities of a future win. The spokesperson defined: “Premium Bonds holders can select to have their prizes robotically reinvested into extra Bonds, as much as the £50,000 holding restrict.
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“Prizes which are robotically reinvested are instantly eligible for the subsequent draw, and this fee technique now accounts for 9 in ten prizes. Bond holders can set this up via their on-line account or by calling NS&I.”
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