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How long does it take to win a Premium Bonds prize?
It could take much longer than you think to win something in the Premium Bonds prize draw
Millions of Premium Bonds prizes are paid out each month, with payouts ranging from £25 to £1 million.
But with no guarantee of winning anything at all, savers could be waiting a long time to get a prize.
Premium Bonds holders typically wait three and a half years before they win any prizes, according to a freedom of information request by the wealth manager Octopus Money.
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Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
The long wait for a prize illustrates a disconnect between how long consumers anticipate waiting before they win a Premium Bonds prize, and how long they will likely need to wait in reality.
Almost a third of Premium Bonds holders expect to win a prize in the first six months after they bought their bonds, according to a survey of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by Octopus Money.
What are the chances of winning a Premium Bonds prize?
While NS&I’s prize fund rate, the average rate of return for a person with average luck, currently stands at 3.8%, there’s no guarantee of winning anything at all.
The odds of winning per £1 Bond number currently stand at 22,000 to one.
For every £1 you invest in Premium Bonds, you get one chance to win.
This means the distribution of prizes is heavily skewed towards people who have a significant amount of money saved in Premium Bonds as they have more individual chances of winning a prize.
In the past five years, 94% of Premium Bonds jackpot winners held more than £10,000, while 75% have over £25,000 invested in the vehicle, NS&I data shows.
More than £4.25 billion has been held in Premium Bonds accounts that have had no activity in the entirety of the last decade, earning zero interest and letting the money erode to inflation.
If you do end up being one of the lucky few who end up winning, Octopus Money suggests the prize amount is often modest. In 2024, 88% of Premium Bonds prize winners took home less than £2,000 and just 0.32% of all winners won more than £10,000..
Ruth Handcock, CEO of Octopus Money said that while saving money in Premium Bonds may work well for some people, “others are missing out on strategies that could grow their wealth and deliver stronger returns over time”.
Handcock added that Premium Bonds are unlikely to outpace inflation, “so your money may seem ‘safe’ but it’s quietly shrinking in value over time".
How to check for Premium Bonds
With a 3.5 year average waiting period before you win a Premium Bonds prize, you may think it is not worth checking to see if you won anything every single month.
However, it is still a good idea to use the Premium Bonds prize checker and see if you had any luck – the process is quite simple once you have set your account up with NS&I.
NS&I updates the prize checker tool, available via app, website and Amazon Alexa, the day after the first working day of the month.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Daniel is a financial journalist at MoneyWeek, writing about personal finance, economics, property, politics, and investing.
He covers savings, political news and enjoys translating economic data into simple English, and explaining what it means for your wallet.
Daniel joined MoneyWeek in January 2025 and previously worked at The Economist in their Audience team. He read history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and edited Cambridge's student newspaper, Varsity.
In his free time, he likes reading, walking around Hampstead Heath, and cooking overambitious meals.
