£1k Premium Bond win could take 3,500 years

SAVERS who invest £1,000 into Premium Bonds will have to wait almost 3,500 years for a 50-50 chance of winning the amount they put in.

and to have an equal chance of pocketing the top £1million prize, that same investor would have to wait 3.2million years, according to numbers crunched by data scientist andrew Zelin.

Premium Bonds offer holders the chance to win money in a monthly prize draw. customers effectively put their cash into a savings account, which enters them into the draws with rewards from £25 up to £1million instead of paying interest.

But most people do not win with more than 21.4million Premium Bond holders chasing

‘Savers need to know’

3.3million prizes handed out every month, of which fewer than 100 are worth more than £5,000.

Mr Zelin calculated that someone with £1,000 of Premium Bonds would have to wait two years for a 50-50 chance of winning £25 or 3,466 years for the same shot at £1,000 or 119,256 years for a £10,000 prize.

an investor who ploughed in £15,000 would wait 231 years for an even chance at £1,000 or 7,950 years for £10,000 or 214,661 years to be in with a 50-50 chance of winning £1million.

Someone with the maximum £50,000 stake would still have to wait 60.3 years for an even chance of winning £1,000 or 2,385 years for £10,000 and 64,398 years for the top reward.

Mr Zelin, who analysed the data for the Family Building Society, said: ‘Savers need to know the true chance of winning.’ The bonds have been running since 1956 and are backed by the Treasury.