More than 22million people across the UK have Premium Bonds, a form of savings that allows investors to win tax-free prizes instead of earning interest.
Each month, the UK government’s National Savings and Investments (NS&I) puts the unique number allocated to each £1 bond into a draw.
The Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment (ERNIE) system then chooses from these numbers, doling out prizes from £25 to £1million to account holders.
But although it’s random, it seems some Brits are winning a lot more often than others — and the luckiest lot are in the south of England.
Assessing the odds in each UK county based on ONS data of previous winners, OLBG revealed fortune apparently favours residents further south.
Essex savers are the most likely to nab a bonus, with a 3.84% chance and 11,000 winners in the past year totalling £33.6million in prizes.
Second on the list is Kent, where it’s over 10,000 2023 winners claimed £29.4million, putting the region at 3.49%, followed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight in at third.
Here, Premium Bonds customers have a 3.40% chance of winning, but the prizes added up to more; although 9,976 were won last year, the total amount came to an impressive £30.9million.
The South East is the most successful region according to the research, with Devon being the only outlier to make the top 10.
Lincolnshire was the most northerly county ranked 20th or above, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland didn’t get a look-in whatsoever.
Top 20 Premium Bonds hotspots and the chances of winning
- Essex – 3.84%
- Kent – 3.49%
- Hampshire & Isle of Wight – 3.40%
- Surrey – 3.23%
- Outer London – 3.16%
- Inner London – 2.55%
- Hertfordshire – 2.55%
- Devon – 2.47%
- West Sussex – 2.33%
- Dorset – 2.07%
- Suffolk – 1.71%
- Buckinghamshire – 1.69%
- Lancashire – 1.61%
- Wiltshire – 1.52%
- Hereford and Worcester – 1.47%
- Cambridgeshire – 1.44%
- Derbyshire – 1.42%
- Gloucestershire – 1.41%
- Lincolnshire – 1.40%
- East Sussex – 1.40%
This comes after NS&I announced average win rates for its December draw were being cut from 4.4% to 4.15%, meaning the odds of taking home the two monthly £1million jackpots are also reduced.
The chances of a customer winning go up based on how many bonds they have (the maximum holding is £50,000) while the chance of each bond winning will sit at 22,000 to 1 following the change.
To improve your odds, it makes sense to purchase more bonds, but there have been big winners with holdings of as little as £50.
Since 2020, 20 of the £100,000 prizes and 26 of the £50,000 prizes were won by people with a holding of £500 or less, and one Norwich-based winner bagged a £50,000 prize with a holding of just £5 in the December 2023 draw (although nobody with a holding of less than £500 has taken home the £1millionin this time).
Anna Bowes, co-founder of website Savings Champion told This Is Money: ‘The very fact that some people have won with a tiny amount will keep many invested.
‘The risk to £500 earning no interest is maybe £25 a year – at current best buy rates. There will be people prepared to risk that for the chance of winning big – or indeed winning something at all.’
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