 Premium Bond holders will have a greater chance of winning |
The odds of winning a Premium Bond prize are to be improved, National Savings has said. From September, each bond will have a 24,000-1 chance of winning a prize, compared with 30,000-1 previously.
The improved chance of winning comes as the number of prizes on offer rises from 795,000 to 865,000 in June and one million in September.
This will lift the average annual return on Premium Bonds to 2.8% tax free from 2.4% now.
In total, 23 million Britons own Premium Bonds worth a total of more than �4bn.
National Savings calculates that a player with the maximum allowable �30,000 in Premium Bonds will from September pick up an average of 15 prizes a year.
One prize of �1m is awarded each month but the vast majority of prizes are of �50 and �100.
The popularity of Premium Bonds has surged in recent years as stock markets collapsed and interest rates fell to historical lows.
One-Minute World News 
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