A Premium Bonds holder has started the new year with a bang after winning the biggest prize on his first attempt.
One of the coveted £1 million jackpot prizes was won by a saver in Gloucestershire who held the maximum £50,000.
It was a real case of beginner’s luck for this winner, who bought the winning bond in November 2024. January’s drawing was the first for which their bond was eligible.
The other £1m prize winner was based in Liverpool and had assets of £37,025. They purchased their winning bond in March 2022.
Other lucky winners scooped up big prizes with small assets in the first Premium Bonds prize draw of the year.
Beginner’s luck: a Premium Bonds holder based in Gloucestershire has scooped a £1 million prize in the first draw of his bond
One winner from Cornwall won £50,000 with just £100 holdings. They bought their winning bond in March 2011.
Meanwhile, another Premium Bonds holder, based in North East Scotland, also won £50,000 with a £250 holding from a bond bought in December 2013.
The odds of winning at least £50,000 with a £100 holding are one in 4.7 million, while the odds of winning this prize with a £250 holding are 1.8 million to one, analysis by This is Money.
The average holdings of the £50,000 prize winners in this month’s draw was £37,851.
The January 2025 prize draw saw a total of 5.9 million prizes worth £429 million drawn.
Premium Bond Winners
| Price | Area | Value of the bond |
| £1,000,000 | Liverpool | £18,025 |
| £1,000,000 | Gloucestershire | £17,480 |
| £100,000 | South West Wales | £49,000 |
| £100,000 | Within London | £10,000 |
| £100,000 | South Yorkshire | £5,000 |
| £100,000 | Within London | £15,000 |
| £100,000 | North Yorkshire | £20,000 |
| £100,000 | Wales | £10,000 |
Even more winners from January 2025
At this month’s draw, the premium rate for Premium Bonds – which represents the average return a Premium Bonds saver would earn in a year – was 4 percent. In November, the interest rate was reduced from 4.15 percent.
A month earlier, NS&I reduced the prize money rate from 4.4 percent to 4.15 percent.
The two consecutive interest rate cuts mean the odds of winning a Premium Bonds prize are now 22,000 to one. In the November 2024 draw they were 21,000 to one.
Andrew Westhead, NS&I retail director, said: “We are excited to start 2025 by creating our first Premium Bonds millionaires of the year in Liverpool and Gloucestershire.”
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