NS&I: Premium Bonds ‘popular myth’ proven false – prize draw explained | Personal Finance | Finance
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Premium Bonds are overseen by NS&I, formally known as National Savings & Investments, a Government-backed savings institution. With NS&I, any money saved is 100 percent protected as it is backed by HM Treasury, providing reassurance to savers. Premium Bonds are a particularly popular way of saving, as each month, Britons are in with a chance of winning up to £1million.
“The machine we use to generate the numbers for each prize draw – ERNIE – generates numbers at random, which are then matched to our database of eligible Bonds to determine the winners.
“Since no Bonds are actually entered into ERNIE, it doesn’t ‘know’ anything about the Bonds themselves.
“The only thing that can increase your chances of winning is holding more Premium Bonds – but holding them in sequence won’t make any difference.”
ERNIE, the machine used by NS&I for its Premium Bonds dates back to 1957.
It stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment and is a hardware random number generator.
Over the years, the machine has been updated and replaced to make it quicker and more efficient.
The latest version of the machine, ERNIE 5, was brought into service in March 2019 and generates numbers for the prize draw each month.
Indeed, savers are once again getting closer to the next all-important prize draw, which is scheduled to take place at the start of June.
As is true each month, NS&I will create two lucky millionaires alongside a whole host of other prize winners.
At the start of May, the savings institution unveiled its latest high value winners, meaning many woke up significantly richer.
The first lucky millionaire came from Surrey, with a winning Bond number of 436VB112388, which they only purchased in February 2021.
The second top winner was from Wiltshire and secured the win with a Bond number of 340LX170519 purchased in September 2018.
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