March's Premium Bond winners have been announced, with two people winning one million pounds. The first one million pound jackpot winner is from Devon, having purchased the winning bond 170MY806167 in June 2010, while the second person is from Essex, purchasing the Bond 276RS522196 in July 2016.
There were 116,804,536,571 Bond numbers available for the draw, which saw 3,385,641 prizes worth a staggering £97,337,100. Since June 1957, the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment (ERNIE) has drawn 555 million prizes - totalling £22.7 billion.
Premium Bonds is an investment product, but instead of earning a set amount of interest, you are entered into a monthly prize draw where you have a chance of winning between £25 and one million pounds tax free, reports The Mirror.
The minimum amount you can have invested in Premium Bonds is £25, and the maximum is £50,000. You can cash in your Premium Bonds at any time without a penalty, though it may take a few days.
Jill Waters, NS&I retail director, said: "A massive congratulations to our new Premium Bonds jackpot winners from Devon and Cheshire. This really is a life-changing sum of money and we wish them all the best for the future.
"Aside from our two jackpot winners, this month, ERNIE will be paying out more than 3.3 million other tax-free prizes worth £97,337,100, surprising and delighting people up and down the country."
How to check if you’re a Premium Bonds winner
The easiest way to check if you're a Premium Bonds winner is to use the nsandi.com prize checker tool and prize checker app. To see if you've won, you will need to enter your Premium Bonds holders’ number. If you have an Amazon Alexa, you can also ask it to tell you the latest winning numbers.
Customers can choose to have their prizes paid straight into their bank account, or to have them automatically reinvested into new Premium Bonds. Those who have chosen to have prizes paid to their bank account, or have their prizes reinvested, will be informed whether they have won by email or text message.
You can manage your Bonds online at nsandi.com and by phone.
At the moment the odds of a Bond winning any prize each month are 34,500 to 1. The vast majority of the prizes released each month are for £25.
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