March’s premium bond draw has made millionaires of two more lucky people in the UK
The month of March brings the start of spring and a fresh chance to win with premium bonds.
For two fortunate holders, the beginning of a new season and the end of the financial year has brought the bonus of a £1m prize each.
While for thousands more, there are cash prizes ranging from £25 to £100,000.
The Government’s National Savings and Investments (NS&I), which runs the scheme, has billed premium bonds as a “fun way to save”, with all prizes tax-free if your number comes up.
However, those planning to buy bonds should bear in mind the odds of winning are 22,000 to one for every £1 bond in the monthly prize draw.
What were the winning premium bonds numbers for March 2025?
Each month, a new set of winners are declared whose numbers have come up on the premium bond draw.
Two lucky bond holders receive the top prize of £1m.
For March, the winning numbers for the biggest prize funds were:
- 408VD714629 from Cumbria winning £1m
- 540HZ735699 from Cleveland winning £1m
There were 82 bond holders who picked up the £100,000 cash prize, 165 who got £50,000 and 329 who walked away with £25,000.
At the other end of the scale, 1,997,099 received £100, 1,997,099 got £50 and 1,812,279 won £25.
There were 5,878,493 cash prizes in total with the value of the monthly prize fund set at £431,089,325.
How can I check if I’ve won on premium bonds?
To check if your bond number or numbers have been successful, holders should go to the NS&I website and enter their bond numbers using the prize checker here.
The same information is also available on the NSI app, which can be downloaded for free at the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.
Holders can also find out if they’ve been lucky in the prize draw by asking Alexa, using the premium bonds prize checker Alexa skill at Amazon.
Once the skill is enabled, those with bonds can check for prizes, find out when the next results are available and if they have any unclaimed prizes.
To check on bonds, holders will need their unique number, found on the bond record or by logging into their account on the NS&I website.
It will have either nine of 10 digits, or be an eight-digit number with a letter at the end.
There is no time limit on claiming prizes, so holders can claim as far back as the original 1957 draw.
But to reduce the potential for unclaimed prizes, premium bond holders can opt to have them paid directly into their bank account or automatically reinvested into more bonds.
NS&I says almost nine in 10 prizes are now paid this way, more details are available here.
What are the chances of winning?
The odds of winning are 22,000 to one for every £1 bond in the monthly prize draw.
And the annual prize fund rate is four per cent (variable), a drop of 0.4 per cent from last year. This will be lowering further next month to 3.8 per cent.
According to the Money Saving Expert website, it means the odds of winning at least the minimum prize of £25 in one month are one in 880.
While the odds of winning £1m per £25 of bonds in one month is one in 2,580,314,550 and one in 62,934,499 for the £100,000 prizes.
The good news is any prize money will be tax-free.
How do premium bonds work and how can I buy them?
Premium bonds are a way of investing money which does not earn interest but instead has an annual prize fund rate funding a monthly prize draw for tax-free prizes.
The prize fund rate and number of prizes in each cash prize value category are variable, so can change at any time.
Each month, the winning numbers are generated by a random-number generator nicknamed Ernie.
Every £1 bond entered into the prize draw has the same odds of winning, so the more bonds you purchase, the more chances you have of winning.
The minimum investment you can make in premium bonds is £25 and the maximum is £50,000.
To purchase them, you can:
- Buy online – got to the website here and with your debit card details ready.
- Buy over the phone – call free on 08085 007 007 to purchase, with your debit card details ready. If you are buying bonds for someone else’s child, you cannot buy them by phone.
- Buy by post – print and complete an application form from here. Send it to NS&I, Sunderland SR43 2SB with a cheque payable to NS&I.
- Buy by bank transfer or standing order – if you or a child you are buying for already have some premium bonds, you can buy more via bank transfer (including standing order)