NS&I Premium Bonds winners ‘more likely’ in these areas

Many dream of a carefully stashed saving turning into a jackpot £1 million Premium Bonds win. But those living in certain areas of England seemingly scoop a cash prize more often than others.

Premium Bonds give people the option to save money tax-free if they've already maxed out their regular Personal Savings Allowance and cash ISA allowance. For every Premium Bond owned, there's a chance to scoop a monthly cash win, with prizes ranging from £25 to £1m.

The average annual return on £50,000 worth of savings was four per cent, according to Martin Lewis’ calculations. However when top prize winners were announced, people regularly question why some areas seemed to be luckier than others.

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Over on X, one person asked NS&I: “I'm a bit confused on how every month there's a selection of areas that are always on the top winner list i.e Essex, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Stockport, Hereford, Devon etc... Surely that can't be a coincidence? Or is it favoured towards... ”

The NS&I was happy to clear things up, and revealed it was not a grand conspiracy against the north but simply a case of there being more Premium Bonds holders in the south. "If it seems that more prizes are won by holders in the South East, that’s because there are more Bonds held there compared with the rest of the UK," the reply read.

The Express reports that on its website, NS&I said: “Seeing where the luckiest prize winning areas are each month is part of the fun of Premium Bonds. But to protect winners’ anonymity and help keep their personal details private, we set some rules around revealing prize winning locations.

"Each customer is assigned to a town, local authority, county or Government Standard Region and country. When a winner is assigned to a town with less than 100,000 holders assigned to it, then we use the following hierarchy until we find a level where that area has at least 100,000 Premium Bonds holders."

The hierarchy was:

Level 1: Royal Mail Postcode Address File town (like Blackpool)

Level 2: County or Local Authority (like Lancashire)

Level 3: Government Standard Region (like North West)

Level 4: Country (like England)

The NS&I continued: “For large towns and cities that are divided into local authorities or boroughs, we quote the area with the fewest customers over the 100,000 reporting limit. This may mean the list quotes a local authority area or borough instead of the town or city.”