The first winner to scoop the life-changing sum of money is from Outer London and had the winning number 333XB827779.

They held £50,000 in Premium Bonds and bought the winning bond in June 2018. They are the ninth winner from this area.

The second £1m-winner, from Suffolk, had the lucky number 226HV323415.

They also held £50,000 in Premium Bonds and bought the winning bond in July 2014. They are the ninth person to win the million pound prize from Suffolk.

October Premium Bonds boost

It comes as the October prize saw an extra £79m added to the prize pot. The government’s savings arm – NS&I –made the change which pushed the prize fund rate up from 1.40% to 2.20% – the biggest rise in more than 40 years.

The move saw odds improving from 24,500 to 1 to 24,000 to 1. Overall, NS&I said the changes will see the number of £5,000, £10,000, £25,000, £50,000 and £100,000 prizes almost double.

A total of 4,972,506 prizes worth £218,790,200 was paid out for the October prize draw. Of that prize money, there were 119,340,101,225 Bond numbers eligible for the draw.

To check if you’ve won, see the NS&I prize checker, the prize checker app or via an Alexa-enabled device.

You’ll need your Premium Bonds holder number to check, and you can also see if you have any unclaimed prizes.

£23 billion paid since 1957

Since the first Premium Bonds draw in July 1957, ERNIE – the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment – has drawn 587 million prizes with a total value of £23.6 billion.

Winners are notified but often people move or change their contact details leading to unclaimed prices.

In Outer London, there are 246,510 unclaimed prizes worth £8,613,300. The largest unclaimed prize is £100,000 and is from the February 2007 prize draw.  

In Suffolk, there are 22,656 unclaimed prizes with a total value of £725,300.

Of those £1,000 is the largest unclaimed prize in Suffolk and there are nine of these that were won between the May 1986 and December 2020 prize draw.

Jill Waters, NS&I retail director, said: “Congratulations to our two winners from Outer London and Suffolk. £1 million is a truly life-changing sum of money and we wish them all the best for their future.

“Premium Bonds are not just about the £1 million jackpot prize – from this month, we’ve increased the prize fund rate and added a massive £79 million to the prize pot, meaning people up and down the country will have more chances to win prizes ranging from £50 up to £100,000, as well as our two jackpot prizes.”