The National Savings and Investments has shared their end-of-year figures for Greater Manchester
Take a look at NS&I Premium Bond prizes from over the past year(Image: NS&I)
A staggering total of £104,151,725 has been won in the Premium Bond draws across Greater Manchester over the past 12 months – with 130,154 individual winners in the region.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) Premium Bonds were invented in 1956 by Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan to encourage savings in a bid to combat inflation. Every £1 is worth one Bond which is allocated a specific code which has the potential to be selected to win a prize.
People can save a minimum of £25 and a maximum of £50K and at the start of each month, a selection of bonds are drawn using the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment (ERNIE) to win cash prizes.
Prizes are selected each month using Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment (ERNIE)(Image: NS&I)
Every month there are two jackpot prizes of £1M handed out to savers across the country with money invested in a NS&I account. Then the second highest prize is £100K, followed by £50K, £25K, 10K, all the way down to £25.
The £1M jackpot prize was created in 1994 and since then, ERNIE has created a whopping 568 millionaires. Although statistically speaking the higher number of Premium Bonds someone has, the higher their chances of winning, this isn’t always the case. This year, the lowest holding to win the £1M jackpot prize was £100 in March.
As well as the two £1M prizes each month in 2025, there was also an average of 79 £100K prizes and 157 £50K prizes won. Among these was a saver from Outer London who scooped £100K in March with a holding of only £14, after purchasing their winning Bond in 1977. Another lucky winner won £50K in July with a holding of just £71. They purchased their winning Bond in 1962.
As the end of 2025 approaches, we have collated some data from the Government-owned NS&I to take a look at how much money has been won over the year by people living in Greater Manchester.
Premium Bond prizes can be won from £25 all the up to £1,000,000(Image: NS&I)
In 2025, a total of 25 savers living in Greater Manchester scooped the second top prize of £100,000, totalling a whopping £2,500,000. The next prize of £50,000 was handed out to 48 savers living in the area; which adds up to a total of £2,400,000. Next up, £10,000 was won by 228 Greater Manchester residents, adding up to a total of £2,280,000.
Although winning £25 doesn’t seem like much, when you look at the entire year you can see that a total of 566,863 Greater Manchester savers scooped the lowest prize, which has cost NS&I a whopping total of £14,171,575.
A quote shared by an anonymous winner of the £1M jackpot Premium Bond prize reveals that they are still ‘coming to terms with’ the big win. “A week has passed since you turned our world upside down,” the winner shared. “In the nicest possible way. We’re still coming to terms with our ‘this sort of thing never happens to me’ win. Thank you for the amazing news.”
Another winner said: “Even when you think you can’t get anywhere, something is always waiting round the corner. Thanks doesn’t cut it but, thank you ERNIE.” And a final £1M winner shared: “It’s totally amazing. I am not sure that it’s registered that I’m a big winner. It’s a life changing amount and I’m looking forward to being able to help my family and enjoy a more relaxed life with no money worries.”
People with NS&I Premium Bond accounts can check if they’ve won a prize at the start of each month(Image: NS&I)
The annual prize fund rate for Premium Bonds is 3.60% and the monthly odds of any £1 bond number winning a prize are 22,000 to 1.
