Unlucky? £25k Of Premium Bonds, No Wins In A Year

My £25k NS&I Premium Bonds Yielded No Winning For A Year - Is This Bad Luck Or A Mistake?

Sam Barker wrote for This Is Money. The article may mention a financial topic. It is possible that Sam provided some insights or advice. The blog may be helpful for those who want to learn more about finances. The language used in the article may be easy to understand. Readers may find the article useful.

Blog section updated on June 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM.

In November 2020, I got National Savings & Investments Premium Bonds worth £25,000. I bought them in one go and they all had consecutive numbers.

I could join a contest in January 2021. But, unfortunately, I didn't win anything that year. The following years, however, were different. I got some prizes in 2022 and 2023.

I didn't get any prizes in 2021 despite having a lot of bonds. This worries me.

I know the draw is random, but I feel unlucky. It seems unlikely that I haven't won anything. Maybe there was a mistake with my bonds. They might not have been included in the prize selection database for the whole of 2021. It could be because they were marked as eligible only from January 2022 instead of January 2021. I shared my concern via email.

Many Britons have NS&I Premium Bonds. In fact, two-thirds of them do! There are also millions of people who own other NS&I savings arrangements.

This is Money's Sam Barker says lots of people in the UK have Premium Bonds. Over 22 million people have them. People really like them.

People who win the £1million jackpot prize usually have a lot of money invested in Premium Bonds. NS&I customers are most likely to win. Britons can save a maximum of £50,000 in Premium Bonds.

Lots of people enjoy the thrill of potentially winning at least £25 in the monthly Premium Bonds lottery.

It's hard to believe you can't win anything for a year with £25,000.

Is there a problem or are you unlucky? How much unlucky are you?

NS&I said there was no mistake with your bonds. They think you just had really bad luck.

Data shows that if you had average luck, you would have won a prize 12 times in 2021.

I talked to a stats expert to learn the chances of readers winning nothing in 2021.

Michael Dunne-Willows, a statistician, said it's unlikely to win anything with £25,000 in Premium Bonds all year. He said the probability of this happening is 0.00000373.

This means if you had 25,000 £1 Premium Bonds, they could have potentially entered 12 monthly prize draws.

Dunne-Willows said, "The chance is very tiny, like winning over 260,000 times." It's very improbable.

If you have 25,000 Premium Bonds, you will usually win around 12 times per year.

You may usually get £25 for winning most of the times. Your total win for a year would be over £300 as per calculation.

Mrs S made a complaint to NS&I. NS&I spoke to her on July 5. They sent more letters on July 15, 29, September 26, and October 22, 2022.

The letters said that Premium Bond numbers are random. Mrs. S's Bonds could win prizes.

The article has links that may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them, we can earn a fee. This helps us keep This Is Money free. We don't promote products in our articles. Also, we don't let commercial relationships change our editorial freedom.