England home to all five of June's Premium Bond millionaires

Despite Scotland dominating NS&I's Premium Bond luckiest town league, it is England which has come out on top in June's anniversary draw, with all five of the £1 million jackpots going to winners in England.

The fortunate five are spread across the country from Tyne and Wear to Kent. The winner from Kent only started investing in Premium Bonds in November 2006 - the 50th anniversary of Premium Bonds first going on sale - and has become a millionaire just six months later on the anniversary of the first draw.

June's draw is the second of NS&I's two anniversary draws to celebrate 50 years of Premium Bonds and marks 50 years since ERNIE (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) first went into action. It has the largest prize fund to date with almost 1.5 million prizes worth over £118 million.

With five winners in June, NS& I's Chief Agent Million, the mystery person who delivers the good news to the jackpot winners each month, has had to recruit more secret Agents to visit the extra winners.

John Prout, sales director for NS& I, said: "Today marks 50 years of prizes - in 1957 ERNIE's top prize was £1,000, now he's a millionaire maker. While prizes and odds have changed over the last 50 years, the concept behind Premium Bonds has remained the same: Premium Bonds offer investors 100% security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes from winning tax-free* prizes.

"This gives them universal appeal; a fact underlined by this month's lucky jackpot winners who range from under 25 to over 65."

Premium Bonds have become part of British history since their introduction half a century ago. Launched under the tagline "Saving with a thrill" , the Bonds were introduced in the post-war period to help control inflation and to encourage people to save.


The increased chance to win a million has caused interest on a large scale in the run up to this months prize draw. John Prout commented: "Premium Bonds have become increasingly popular over the last five years as we've added extra jackpots and made it easier to invest in them. However, the last year has seen even larger amounts invested and over half a million new customers. In the past year, one million Premium Bonds are bought an hour, 17,000 per minute."

Almost £10 billion paid out

The first Premium Bonds draw was held in June 1957. Postmaster-General Ernest Marples flicked an ivory switch to get ERNIE started. Sixteen minutes later the first winning number had been produced. It took ERNIE 54 hours to complete the draw which paid out 23,142 prizes worth £969,750. The top prize was £1,000 and smallest £25. There were 49 million Bonds eligible for the first draw.

Since then, 154 million tax-free* prizes worth £9.8 billion have been paid out. Prizes now range from £50 to £1 million and it takes ERNIE only a few hours to generate the winning numbers. ERNIE has created 188 millionaires since the £1 million jackpot was introduced in 1994.

In December 2006 five £1 million jackpots were also paid out to mark 50 years since Premium Bonds first went on sale. Next month will see the prize draw return to its normal format, which creates two millionaires.

In June's draw ERNIE gave away over one million other prizes worth over £113 million.

* All Premium Bond prizes are free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.