Christmas has come early for hundreds of Premium Bonds holders who won big prizes in December’s draw.
The two coveted £1million jackpot prizes were won by a saver in Kent who holds the maximum of £50,000 and another in Cumbria with a £33,275 holding.
But one lucky saver scooped £100,000, the second biggest prize on offer, with a holding of just £505 bought in June 2022.
The winner, based in Essex, has made a 19,702 per cent return on their investment.
For the December draw, the average holding of those who won £100,000 in the National Savings and Investment product was £41,141.
The likelihood of winning at least £100,000 with a £500 holding is one in 2.7million, recent This is Money analysis shows.
Christmas has come early for a Premium Bonds holder who won a £100k prize with a holding of £505
Meanwhile, another Premium Bond holder in Barnet bagged a £50,000 prize, the third biggest tier on offer with a holding of £377.
Their winning bond was purchased in May 1977.
A winner based in Liverpool won a £50,000 prize with £535 saved in Premium Bonds. The winning bond was bought in September 2023.
The average holding of £50,000 prize winners in this month’s draw was £40,813. The odds of winning a £50,000 prize with a holding of £500 are 940,000 to one.
In the December 2024 prize draw, a total of 5.8million prizes worth £442million were drawn.
In this month’s draw, the Premium Bonds prize fund rate – which represents the average return a Premium Bonds saver would get in a year – was 4.15 per cent. It was cut from 4.4 per cent in October.
In next month’s draw, the prize fund will again fall to 4 per cent after NS&I announced another cut to the prize fund rate last month.
The two successive cuts mean that the odds of winning a Premium Bonds prize have lengthened to 22,000 to one from 21,000 to one.
Andrew Westhead, retail director at NS&I said: ‘Congratulations to our latest Premium Bonds millionaires from Kent and Cumbria. What a wonderful early Christmas surprise as the festive season begins.
Premium Bonds Winners
| Prize | Area | Value of bond |
| £1,000,000 | Kent | £49,950 |
| £1,000,000 | Cumbria | £10,000 |
| £100,000 | Kent | £50,000 |
| £100,000 | Croydon | £5,000 |
| £100,000 | Northern Ireland | £10,000 |
| £100,000 | Wiltshire | £49,999 |
| £100,000 | West Midlands | £50,000 |
| £100,000 | Essex | £32,420 |
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