National Savings and Investments (NS&I) has revealed the winners of this month’s Premium Bonds prize draw, with one lucky winner walking away with the £1million jackpot. Unlike most savings accounts, Premium Bonds do not accrue interest over a set period – bondholders are instead enrolled in a monthly cash lottery.
Prize winners usually win smaller amounts, but Premium Bond customers are in with a chance of winning larger amounts of £10,000, £50,000 and £100,000. The signature NS&I savings product is also known for giving two lucky savers the chance to take home the £1million jackpot prize each month. The winners of the jackpot for the month of May 2026 have now been revealed.
For May 2026, the first £1million is from Suffolk and has the winning bond number 567VN857011, purchased back in January 2024. They had a maximum holding of £50,000.
The second jackpot winner comes from the Highlands and Islands region, with the winning bond number 643SE292364, purchased in September 2025. They had £23,500 placed in the savings product.
Thousands of other Britons have won smaller high-value prizes in this month’s NS&I draw, with a full list of winners available on the financial institution’s website.
The Premium Bond lottery scheme has been organised by the UK Government since 1956. The principle behind Premium Bonds is that rather than the stake being gambled, as in a usual lottery, it is the interest on the bonds that is distributed by a lottery. The bonds are entered in a monthly prize draw and the Government promises to buy them back, on request, for their original price.
The Government pays interest into the bond fund (which has stood at 4% since January 2025) from which a monthly lottery distributes tax-free prizes to bondholders whose numbers are selected randomly. The machine that generates the numbers is called ERNIE, an acronym for “Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment”.
Investors can buy bonds at any time, but they must be held for a whole calendar month before they qualify for a prize.
This month’s Premium Bonds draw comes after NS&I apologised for a major scandal, which saw bereaved families unable to claim their deceased loved ones’ savings after their passing. It is understood that around 37,500 individuals were affected by the errors, resulting in delays in families accessing Premium Bonds valued at up to £476million.
The scandal led to NS&I chief executive Dax Harkins resigning from his role, and he was replaced by former HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) boss Sir Jim Harra.