October's premium bond winners have been announced – what should you do with your winnings?

Two lucky premium bond holders have each won a £1m jackpot in October's National Savings & Investments (NS&I) prize draw.

The two jackpot winners are from Derbyshire and Gloucestershire, while 88 other bond holders secured the next-best prize of £100,000.

Here, Which? reveals the winning premium bond numbers and offers advice on what you could do with the windfall – apart from spend it.

October's premium bond winners

Which? receives details of the premium bond jackpot winners and prize draw data the day before full results are made available to holders via the app and online.

We can reveal that the first winning bond (535MK963637) was bought by a lucky winner living in Derbyshire, and is part of a total holding of £50,000. The winning bond was bought in March 2023.

The second winner, from Gloucestershire, bought their bond (203JB525288) in February 2013. They have a total holding of £29,900.  

• Find out more: should I get premium bonds?

How many winners were drawn in October?

There were 5,991,306 premium bond prizes paid out in the October 2024 draw. Of these, 5,914,229 were worth £100 or less.

In total, this month's prizes were worth £461,330,525.

• Find out more: premium bonds – are they worth it?

6 savvy ways to reinvest your winnings

Winning a large cash prize is exciting, and your first thought might be to treat yourself. But reinvesting that money instead could mean your windfall grows by even more.

So, whether you walked away with a £1,000 or the £1m jackpot, here are six options that could potentially benefit your finances for years to come:

1. Open a savings account

Inflation has dropped dramatically over the last year, with almost all savings accounts now offering rates higher than August's CPI figure of 2.2%. This means the real value of your savings should finally be growing after more than two years of being eaten away by record price rises.

Moneyfacts data shows the best restriction-free easy-access account on offers 4.85% AER. Locking your money away will get you even better returns – the top rate for a one-year fixed account is currently 5% AER with Gatehouse Bank.

But you better hurry if you want a top deal, as rates across both fixed and variable accounts are now falling. Our guide on the best savings accounts is updated weekly with the latest top rates. It also shows you the best savings providers based on customer experiences and expert Which? analysis. 

2. Make an investment 

If you're considering investing your winnings, you should be prepared to put the money away for at least five years to ride out any market dips.

Depending on how confident or experienced you are, you can either build your own portfolio or look to an investment platform to do the job for you.

If you're considering investing a large amount of money, it's a good idea to chat to a financial adviser before making any big decisions.

• Find out more: are you ready to invest?

3. Buy more premium bonds

If you've been lucky enough to win some money, you could choose to buy more premium bonds. This will, in theory, increase your chances of winning again.

The odds of winning any prize is currently one in 21,000, and all £1 bonds that enter the prize draw each month have an equal chance of being picked. But the more you invest, the greater your odds of walking away with a prize. 

For example, the chance of bagging the £1m jackpot with a holding of £100 is one in 620,520,000, but the odds jump to one in 1,241,046 with the maximum holding of £50,000, according to NS&I.

You could also consider buying some premium bonds for your children or any younger relatives. You can buy premium bonds for anyone under the age of 16.

However, you may be able to earn more with a children's savings account or Junior Isa (Jisa). And like premium bonds, money held in Jisas is also tax-free.

• Find out more: what is NS&I?

Make your money go further

Find the best deals, avoid scams, and grow your savings with our expert guidance. From only £4.99 a month.

Join Which? Money

Cancel anytime.

4. Protect your savings from tax with a cash Isa

Although winnings from premium bonds are tax-free, if you put your money into a savings account this may trigger a tax bill if the interest you earn exceeds your personal savings allowance over the course of a financial year. 

If you're investing a large sum of money into one of today's top rate accounts, the chances of that happening are very high.

That's where Isas come into play: you can save up to £20,000 in each tax year and have all future growth protected in a tax-free 'wrapper'.

You can choose from cash Isas, lifetime Isas, stocks and shares Isas and innovative finance Isas. And as long as you don't go over the £20,000 limit, you can save into several different account types.

• Find out more: how to find the best cash Isa

5. Boost your pension

A recent Which? survey found that 51% of people yet to retire weren't confident how much money they'll need to deliver a comfortable retirement. So a great way to spend some of the winnings is to boost your pension.

You’ll be able to save £60,000 into your pension in the 2023-24 tax year, while still benefiting from tax relief. This is called the annual allowance and includes additions made by you, your employer (if you have a company pension), and third parties.

• Find out more: how much do you need to retire?

6. Overpay your mortgage

If you own a property, a windfall win could help chip away at your borrowing, or even pay off your mortgage altogether.

Even a relatively small overpayment could save you thousands in mortgage interest, especially if you’ve been hit by higher mortgage repayments in the last couple of years. 

However, you should check the terms of your mortgage first. Some providers charge expensive early repayment fees, and most have restrictions on how much of the mortgage you're able to overpay each year without incurring charges. Commonly, this is set at around 10% of the outstanding balance.

If you are able to overpay, our mortgage overpayment calculator can show you how much you'd save.

Which? Money Podcast

Join us on our weekly audio show for the latest money news and personal finance hacks to help make you better off.

Listen now