§ Sir F. Markhamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the odds against winning a Premium Bond prize today compared with 1956; and what steps have been, or will be, taken to ensure that the amount of prize money increases in rough proportion to the amount invested.
§ Mr. ErrollThe current odds against any single unit winning a prize are about 10,500: 1, compared with about 2,100: 1 in the first draw in June, 1957. The prize fund is equivalent to interest at 4 per cent. per annum on eligible bonds. While this rate remains unchanged, the amount of prize money does increase in rough proportion to the sum invested, the exact relationship depending on the proportion of "old" to "new" bonds taking part in the draw.
A bond must be held for six months before becoming eligible, after which, as a new bond, it contributes six months' interest to the fund. Subsequently, as an old bond, it contributes each month one month's interest. The shortest odds would therefore be produced if all the bonds were new, as they were on the unique occasion of the first draw in June, 1957. 84W The longest odds would be about 12,700: 1, if all the bonds were old.