It’s Premium Bonds draw day.

so many folk flocking into Premium bonds odds have gone from 40.99 billion to 1 to 46.33 billion to 1……. those are some loooooong odds .

Thats per £1 ticket, per month, is it? So someone maxed out will have 50000×12 = 600,000 “tickets” or a 1 in 77216 chance of winning the million in a year (or have I done this wrong?)

If the payout percentage is still 1.4% /year, then more bonds mean less of the pot goes to the one lucky millionaire, leaving a greater number of 25, 50 and 100s for the rest of us?

those are some loooooong odds .

Sigh. What odds are there of a cash ISA returning more than a paltry 0.9-1% ish return? A big fat zero. So holding a decent chunk of bonds will give similar returns (1.4% notionally) but have the long shot upside of a much better return. Plus it’s a bit of fun – you don’t feel like you’ve won when you get a monthly interest payment, but do with PBs.

They’re a suitable component for a balanced savings portfolio, nothing more, nothing less. Some regular savings products, some PBs, some stocks, shares and funds, a bit of gold and some leftovers for offshore money laundering operations (does buying bike bits in Germany count?)

Plus it’s a bit of fun – you don’t feel like you’ve won when you get a monthly interest payment, but do with PBs.

To be fair, just like my very occasional lottery ticket buying, I’ve gained some enjoyment out of idly speculating what I’d do if I won one of the big prizes.

Hey I’m not knocking it ….but they are long odds.

I am a believer in them

Definitely not expecting to win a million but gambling on topping out above a decent cash ISA return. Running at 0.6% return at present which is below even the NS&I cash ISA at 0.9% but the actual cash amount of that difference is less than the price of a Maxxis tyre in my case so I’ll not be losing sleep.

Thats per £1 ticket, per month, is it? So someone maxed out will have 50000×12 = 600,000 “tickets” or a 1 in 77216 chance of winning the million in a year (or have I done this wrong?)

If the payout percentage is still 1.4% /year, then more bonds mean less of the pot goes to the one lucky millionaire, leaving a greater number of 25, 50 and 100s for the rest of us?

It’s not £1 per “ticket” it’s £25 which is the smallest bond you can hold

This is the first draw for me. £25!

£25 also.

BoardinBob
It’s not £1 per “ticket” it’s £25 which is the smallest bond you can hold

I thought each bond was £1 but there was a minimum purchase quantity of £25?

After £125 over past two draws mine drew a blank this time.

Surely it must be per £1, as otherwise there would need to be 25x46bn invested which is £1.15tn. Quick check suggests ~£45bn invested.

The wife has just informed me that she got 4 x £25 prizes

Is it just me, or if you logon to an nsandi.com account does it show your balance and then your winnings in “Augustus’s draw”? And no, my name’s not Augustus.

Nothing bigger than £25 for me.

It’s a £50 month for me so new bike

Very strange – just got the email through telling me I’ve won… £50

Nothing on my account yesterday when I checked. ERNIE must need a new hamster!

so many folk flocking into Premium bonds odds have gone from 40.99 billion to 1 to 46.33 billion to 1……. those are some loooooong odds .

Eh? Odds of winning a prize are 24,500 to 1. The prize pot increases to keep the odds roughly the same.

I shall nonchantly mention that I’ve just won £100.
About bloody time!

Mrs Zip £25.

Third time lucky. £25.

Annoyingly, this has reminded me that I should have put some of last Friday’s paycheck in yesterday for October’s draw.

Good run recently! £100, 2 X £25 for me and same for Mrs BUTR.

Another £25 for me.

☹

Funfundzwanzig!

Zero

2 * £25 for me. Happy with that result.

After a couple of lean months I’m back with 4 x £25 – yay…!😀

First month of having PB in the draw, won 4x £25! I like this game.

2x£25 for me. Not heard back from the wife yet. Maybe she’s win big and done a runner.

Edit. No, 2x£50 for her, she’ll be home tonight.

25 quid for us

4 prizes

3x £25
1x £500!!!

Woot – that’s the best ever haul so far

Big fat £0…. again

2x £25 for me, 1x £25 for Mrs B.

“Bumper Crop” it said for me. The excitement was high…

4 x £25. No bad.

Nowt, and for a while now. But never mind, it is keeping it out of my pocket and thats what I still have them 😆

You get so little from the bank/building society that they rates are pretty much an obscene and thoroughly ironic joke. Pointless having savings with them.

in the 4 or 5 years I’ve had PBs, I have won £75 total. Nothing in the last 2 years

I might cash them in and buy a load of scratch cards!

Thats per £1 ticket, per month, is it? So someone maxed out will have 50000×12 = 600,000 “tickets” or a 1 in 77216 chance of winning the million in a year (or have I done this wrong?)

The odds of winning the £1m is 1 in 45.46 billion
if you have 600,000 “tickets” the odds are not 600,000 in 45.46b, they are 1 in 45.46b minus 600000
(or 1 in 45,459,400,000)

when you write it down it seems quite unlikely to win that.

Nothing for me in my 2nd month.

Nothing for me again. Not bothered about the big prizes, just a few smaller ones every now and then would be nice.

2x£25 this month. Ticking along nicely

The odds of winning the £1m is 1 in 45.46 billion

That can’t be right? Apparently 22 million people have premium bonds and there are 24 x 1 million pound prizes won every year. That’s a heck of a lot shorter odds than 1 in 45 billion?

Edit

I googled, you are right (applogies). But those odds are per month with a single £1 bond. Not many people with a holding that small!

Looks like I’m out of luck this month, but Mrs Lawman is £2 x £25 up on me.
She won’t gloat at all, oh no…

t’s not £1 per “ticket” it’s £25 which is the smallest bond you can hold

So how come I have 5 x £1 premium bonds, since 1960?
And what are the odds for me never having won anything?