Northern Beaches Australia
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Quote: Originally posted by dannyct on Mar 29, 2023
1956: Macmillan unveils premium bond scheme
The British Chancellor Harold Macmillan has unveiled plans for a new state saving scheme offering cash prizes instead of interest.
The premium bond would be "something completely new for the saver in Great Britain," he told MPs.
The scheme is part of what he called his "savings budget" aimed at getting more people to save money by offering a top prize of £1,000.
However the proposal is likely to draw criticism from some who regard the scheme as a form of gambling and therefore oppose the idea on moral grounds.
Mr Macmillan tried to head off the critics by declaring: "This is not a pool or a lottery, where you spend your money."
The investor would be saving their money and the government would guarantee to buy the bonds back at the original price at any time.
There was laughter as he insisted the premium bonds would bring in new savers tempted by the possibility of winning a small fortune.
But Labour spokesman Harold Wilson urged the chancellor to take the sale of premium bonds out of his financial proposals and allow MPs to examine the idea in more detail as part of the government's bill on gambling and betting.
The Rev J Clark Gibson, secretary of the Churches' Committee on Gambling said he understood the chancellor's aim but rejected the plan. "As the prizes are distributed by chance the deal therefore becomes a gamble, because the gains of the few are at the loss of the whole body of investors, whether they want to gamble or not," he said.
The bonds will cost £1 each and holders will have a chance of winning a prize in a quarterly draw. The government will pay out the equivalent in prizes of 4% interest on the total number of bonds.
Lord Mackintosh of Halifax, chairman of the National Savings Committee, said he hoped the premium bond, with its tax-free prizes, would bring "millions of people who had so far not found the conventional forms of savings attractive" into the fold.
It seems likely the new bonds will be sold over the counter at post offices and possibly banks.
Sweden has had state lotteries since 1896. The last one was held in 1955 to raise funds for the State Opera. Finland and Greece have also had similar schemes.
Northern Beaches Australia
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NS&I (National Savings and Investments), a state-owned savings bank in the UK, has released 65 facts about Premium Bonds to mark 65 years since the first prize draw:
1. The first Premium Bond was purchased by the then lord mayor of London, Alderman Sir Cuthbert Ackroyd, on November 1 1956.
2. The second Premium Bond was bought by the mayor of Lytham St Annes.
3. By the end of the first day on sale, more than £5 million worth of bonds had been purchased.
4. The public had to wait seven months for the first draw on June 1 1957.
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16. Harold Wilson, the shadow chancellor at the time of the launch of Premium Bonds, referred to them as a “squalid raffle”.
17. IFK341150 was the first ever Premium Bonds number drawn and was held by a Premium Bond holder in Cumbria.
18. The Premium Bonds draw was often a glitzy affair, with the likes of Bob Hope and Sir Bruce Forsyth starting the draw at some point.
19. The £1 million Premium Bonds prize was launched in April 1994.
20. June 1 2022 (the 65th anniversary of the first Premium Bonds prize draw) will see the 483rd and 484th millionaires created by Ernie (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment).
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21. The longest amount of time a winner has waited to win the £1 million jackpot is 16,587 days (or 45 years and five months). This was a winner based in Newham, London, who held £17 in Premium Bonds. The winning bond was purchased in February 1959 and won the jackpot prize in July 2004.
22. At the other end of the spectrum, 12 winners have waited just two months to win the £1 million jackpot, winning in the first draws in which their bonds were eligible.
23. The above winner from Newham in London also had the smallest holding (£17) ever to win the £1 million Premium Bonds jackpot.
24. Twelve people holding £1,000 or less have scooped the £1 million jackpot prize.
25. In the May 2022 prize draw, there were 117,819,813,615 bonds eligible to win tax-free prizes.
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26. Since Ernie turned 60 in June 2017, this number has almost doubled from 64,057,711,819.
27. The figure has almost quadrupled from Ernie’s 50th birthday – in November 2006, there were 32,329,928,097 eligible bonds.
28. The biggest increase in the number of eligible bonds month-on-month was March 2021, when the figure rose by 2,160,113,561 from the previous draw.
29. June 1 2022 marks the 780th Premium Bonds prize draw.
30. Bond number 200VB673507 is one of the luckiest on record – purchased in January 2013 and belonging to a Premium Bonds holder from the West Midlands, the bond won four £25 prizes between July 2017 and March 2019.
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31. More than £22.9 billion in prize money has been paid out by Ernie since the first draw in 1957.
32. In December 2006, NS&I made five people millionaires to celebrate 50 years since Premium Bonds went on sale.
33. In June 2007, NS&I again made five millionaires – this time to celebrate 50 years since the first Premium Bonds prize draw.
34. In the run-up to the December 2006 draw, during one day in October, NS&I sold more than £220 million of Premium Bonds as people rushed to make sure they were eligible for the chance to win one of the five £1 million prizes. This remains a record for the most Premium Bonds sold in one day.
35. There are 21.1 million Premium Bonds customers.
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36. Ten children under the age of 16 have won the £1 million jackpot.
37. The oldest ever £1 million winner was aged over 90 at the time of their win.
38. There has been a millionaire from every English county apart from Rutland.
39. Almost nine in 10 of the more than 3.2 million prizes paid each month are automatically reinvested into more Premium Bonds or paid directly into customers’ bank accounts.
40. The average holding size of the £1 million jackpot winners is just over £17,000.