# Does anyone know anyone who has ever...won anything on a prize bond?!



## cjh

....won anything on a prize bond?!


----------



## mercman

*Re: Does anyone know anyone who has ever...*

A few small prizes in the last 10 years. that's it


----------



## WaterSprite

*Re: Does anyone know anyone who has ever...*

I've won 75 about three times in about 12 years.  You might want to change the title of the thread so something more meaningful.


----------



## Billo

I do.


----------



## marshmallow

Yep, won 75 euro a couple of months ago - yippee!


----------



## Dreamerb

Yep. Have won several €75s. But you need a fairly substantial sum in prize bonds to get anything resembling a return on them - if you have only small amounts, you're really just gambling with your stake being guaranteed.


----------



## sam h

Thing is the big guns (life assurance, banks, syndicates etc) buy up huge quantities of these even for short term investments as they are guarenteed to get the money back and may win something), so means the small players are not the only ones in the pot.  These guys buy up millions at a time....though the odds must be better than the lotto as you never hear of them (banks & the like), buying up loads of lotto tickets.

On saying that...I've never known anyone who has won (and my parents & aunts all would have had loads....my job was to check the numbers)


----------



## Vanilla

My late mother had prize bonds all her life and a few months after she died one of them was a 50 euro winner.

I have a few too, never won anything.


----------



## steph1

I have a good few never won on them.  My late father won twice I think 100 quid.


----------



## niceoneted

My mother has bought all my nieces and nephews (6 of them) prize bonds for their birthdays every year. All of them have won money. I bought prize bonds as a wedding gift few yrs back and within 3 yrs couple had won 150 or so.


----------



## Smashbox

Not me!


----------



## cole

I won £100 three times.


----------



## ClubMan

I won €75 two or three times. My parents also won something like £100 back in the 50s and thought that they were rich.


----------



## edevlin

never won


----------



## KerryG

Arrived home this evening to find letter and cheque for €75 from Prize Bond win.  Pity it wasnt bigger!


----------



## PaddyW

A work colleague of mine won 20k on one about two years ago


----------



## extopia

About €600 in bonds. Never won a cent.


----------



## popol

extopia said:


> About €600 in bonds. Never won a cent.


 
I converted the kids cash to bonds a couple of years ago (about €1200) and to be fair won 2 x 25 within a few weeks and then 75 about a year ago. I suppose that isn't the worst return in the world.


----------



## mariagalway

Not me.


----------



## nolo77

No. Don't know anyone who has won. I've had 10 for the last 25 years and my mother has five or six for over sixty years! I wonder what the odds of winning anything are?


----------



## koby

I've had 350euro worth of pbs for 3 years. have won 75euro. 

My friend has a few thousand euro worth of pbs, and has won the 75euro prize a couple of times.

Don't know anyone who has won over 75euro, good to hear though that PaddyW's colleague won the 20,000 prize.. I was beginning to think prizes higher than 75euro were fictional!


----------



## tick tock

my granny won £5000 back in 1971..........


----------



## emma09

Have a direct debit of 25euros each month set up for my son since he was 2 (now 6).  He has won 75Euros 2-3 times.  I have them on my name for over 10 years about 500 Euros worth - never won anything on them!!


----------



## North Star

nor me


----------



## elefantfresh

I got some for my communion which was a long long time ago - never won anything.


----------



## Sumatra

My experience with an Irish insurance company who promoted free prize bonds with every industrial branch (IB) policy effected was that there were very few winners.


----------



## thedon

I have held prize bonds for over 15 years now and have invested about a grand a year so that now I have around €14,000 in prize bonds and I "win" on average 6 times a year ( usually the €75 prize ) = €450.

I have won the €1000? in the past and a few other smaller ones ( 150? ) my baby son won €250 recently and he only has €50 in prize bonds ( must be a lucky so and so )

Gotta say I do understand that they are not a great investment but in my case I think I am the exception ( just lucky I guess ) and I do place the bulk of my savings in high interest fixed term accounts and basically see the prize bonds thing as a "punt" but I'm quite happy with things at the moment and see no reason to cash them in as you could always win the big one ) yeah right! 

On a side note I wonder will the mini budget affect prize bonds in regards to tax, DIRT etc. if they up DIRT then prize bonds could become quite attractive to a lot of folks in relation to safety and their tax free status, however if they abolish the tax free status of prize bonds they would become worthless to a lot of folks myself included, hhmmm


----------



## Locke

Never won a jot!


----------



## newyork

Won 5000 about 10 years ago


----------



## maura

Had 1000 worth held for 1 year and didn't win so cashed them in.  I had two others at £5 old money each which I never cashed for 20 + years and won €75 last year, 1st time!


----------



## PetPal

Have held lots of 'old' ones for years and years (since my parents bought them for me 30-40 years ago).  Then, , more recently, my husband and I decided to buy a small number of them, on the basis that if we didn't win within a year or so we would just cash them in again, and bearing in mind that interest rates are so bad it didn't seem like a bad idea.  We also felt that newer ones might just have a better chance than the older ones (for whatever reason!).  Anyway, within weeks we won 1000 Euro!  That was a year or so ago.  Didn't win anything since, but we bought some more of them recently because it seems to us that prize bonds are one of the better investments in these economic times.


----------



## Firefly

I won 25 quid I think a few weeks after our first child was born - I wonder if An Post has a link to the births register and it was a cunning way for us to think about buying prize bonds for junior? Sceptical or what?!!


----------



## Sydney100

I have almost 20K in prize bonds and won E75 once, going to continue saving there for he time being, by the end of this year I'll have over 30K....I'm convinced I'm going to win big, sad, I know!  

Then I suppose I'll have to look into moving the money into a bank to try earn some interest.  Just thought with the current banking crisis they were a safer place to save in the last year.  A friends aunt won 20K recently so I suppose its like doing the lotto really , I just thought my odds of winning were better, they say you have a 1 in 4 chance of winning if you hold 1K in bonds.


----------



## athens2004

75 euro once


----------



## pjmn

Won #75 years ago ....


----------



## jack2009

Something does not seem right to me about these, everyone has them but so few winners!!  Often wondered if it was a scam, have loads of them because my grandparents always give me some a Christmas (even though I am now into my 30's!)


----------



## rory22

> Something does not seem right to me about these, everyone has them but so few winners!! Often wondered if it was a scam, have loads of them because my grandparents always give me some a Christmas (even though I am now into my 30's!)


 
Maybe the big winners are off in the Caribbean and unable to post on askaboutmoney?


----------



## Odea

Started buying one a month back in 1970 until I had £500 worth. I have had two €75 winners from these but only in recent years.
I topped up with a €3000 lot a few years back but I have never had a winner.
I also purchased some for my children over the years. They have never had a winner between them.


----------



## Welfarite

rory22 said:


> Maybe the big winners are off in the Caribbean and unable to post on askaboutmoney?


 

Maybe they don't need to ask about money?


----------



## AlbacoreA

Someone bought our baby a prize bond and they won €200 a month or two later.


----------



## Sydney100

Won E75 this moring whoppee!  They should just have less prizes but minimum prize E500, E75 hardly worth the effort of going to the bank with the cheque.  Suppose better than nothing, thats E150 I've won in about 18th months, had 2K in before xmas and now have 20K.


----------



## Vanilla

Sydney100 said:


> ... E75 hardly worth the effort of going to the bank with the cheque.


 

LOL. How much do you charge to get out of bed in the morning?


----------



## samanthajane

Sydney100 said:


> E75 hardly worth the effort of going to the bank with the cheque.


 
If it's that much effort for you i'll gladly take it off your hands


----------



## noel 2006

I have won two €75 prizes.  I enjoy the surprise elment of a win - it's nice to find small cheques unexpectedly amidst the usual post - even if the prizes are no more or perhaps less than you would get in interest.


----------



## leelee

a friend recenlty won 30euro but my mother has had some for 20 years and never won a penny!!


----------



## suemoo1

my father in law won 75e yesterday - he is the first person i know!!


----------



## Saff

Ive often wondered the same about PB.

These are the prizes that PB holders can win, You would think youd hear of someone winning anything over 500,000.

*'January to November -* 3 Monthly Jackpots of* €1,000,000 *and 8 Monthly Jackpots of*€500,000'*

The Prize Bonds website says you can view the draws:
'When are the draws?
The draws take place every Friday in The Prize Bond Company Office, 3B GPO, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1 at 12.30pm. The presentation of the results can be viewed live at An Post, Investment Advice Centre, Andrew Street, Dublin 2.'


----------



## Sydney100

leelee said:


> a friend recenlty won 30euro but my mother has had some for 20 years and never won a penny!!


 
The minimum you can win is E75 there are no E30 prizes so they must have been lying!!!


----------



## chlipps

bought 300 euro worth in 2006...won 75 euro few months back., hi hi


----------



## d2x2

€75 x 1 shortly after buying them which beat any kind of interest... Nothing since and I really should close this. Waste of time.


----------



## Sydney100

Just won another E75 this mornng, thats E150 in 2 weeks, E225 in 2 years. Not bad but I know the big win is coming


----------



## deisemum

I won €3000 worth of prize bonds in a competition just over 18 months ago.   So far I've won 3 x €75.


----------



## Sydney100

I won another E75 yesterday which means I've won E300 in total, I've been saving there for about 18mths and now have about 18K which I was planning on moving into a bank for interest, but with interest so low I wonder are the odds better here of winning.


----------



## Sydney100

I won another E75 thats a total of 5 x 75 over two years with 20K in bonds just so not so bad so far.  Will be taking my money out next month for tax bill but I save here throughout the year for my tax aqnd happy with return so far.


----------



## Eeyore

In a demand deposit account for 2 years at 3% (and you can get better than that) the return on 20K is

20000 x (1.03)^2 = 21218 - 304.50 (DIRT at 25%) = 20913.50

So an overall return of 913.50 against 375 in bonds.


----------



## IsleOfMan

I have circa €3500 of Prize Bonds and I won 3 x €75 in the last two years. The latest today. Having said that I have them since the 1970's and won nothing in over 30 years!!


----------



## Welfarite

Sydney100 said:


> Won E75 this moring whoppee! They should just have less prizes but minimum prize E500, E75 hardly worth the effort of going to the bank with the cheque. Suppose better than nothing, thats E150 I've won in about 18th months, had 2K in before xmas and now have 20K.


 


Sydney100 said:


> Just won another E75 this mornng, thats E150 in 2 weeks, E225 in 2 years. Not bad but I know the big win is coming


 


Sydney100 said:


> I won another E75 yesterday which means I've won E300 in total, I've been saving there for about 18mths and now have about 18K which I was planning on moving into a bank for interest, but with interest so low I wonder are the odds better here of winning.


 


Sydney100 said:


> I won another E75 thats a total of 5 x 75 over two years with 20K in bonds just so not so bad so far. Will be taking my money out next month for tax bill but I save here throughout the year for my tax aqnd happy with return so far.


 
This is extraordinary but ....


Sydney100 said:


> The minimum you can win is E75 there are no E30 prizes so they must have been lying!!!


 

.... wonder who's REALLY telling porkies!?!


----------



## cordelia

Have about 1,000 worth and never won a cent over 15 years! Thinking of cashing them in and going on a nice holiday...


----------



## kim

my late uncle won 50 or 100 grand back in the late 80s early 90s


----------



## Sydney100

Welfarite said:


> This is extraordinary but ....
> 
> 
> 
> .... wonder who's REALLY telling porkies!?!


 
REally I've won 5 x E75, I only posted here so people can see you do win but I ahve alot of money there, I;m convinced I'm going to win big..deluded probably alhtough have to take most out in the next few weeks to pay my tax but will continue to save my tax in prize bonds as so far the returns haven't been bad.   the letter comes on Tuesday if you've won so Tuesdays have got awfully excitng waiting for the postman.  Friday was the end of the month so the big prize was 1million!


----------



## 3dolls

I have a grand total of 3 (!) PBs given to me as a birthday gift years ago by an aunt. I've twice won €75, which I reckon is a pretty damn good return by any standard


----------



## MichaelBurke

Yeah I reliable heard of someone who won BIG! but people don't always want to let it be known, free loaders etc.


----------



## athens2004

won 75 in sept and another 75 in oct.


----------



## seanclon

my sister gave me €600 in prize bonds and a week later I received €75 as a prize,   as an experiment i invested over 100k for a short period less than 6 months and won roughly equivelent to the the prevailing interest rate after dirt
you win some and you lose some,


----------

