# One Direct Insurance - Prize Bonds



## Happy Girl (20 Jan 2008)

Just wondering if anybody who has in the past received complimentary Prize Bond certificates for one year when taking out car/house insurance with One Direct Insurance has ever won anything on them.


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## ailbhe (20 Jan 2008)

I recieved them a few years ago. My daughter is 5 and has recieved almost 1000 in  prize bonds and has never won anything. My partner has prizebonds since he was born (30 years) and hasn't won anything. Maybe we're just unlucky!


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## gipimann (20 Jan 2008)

Well, they have been on sale since 1957, so there are a lot of bonds out there!

One was bought for me when I was born (bit older than ailbhe's partner ) and it has never won anything.


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## GeneralZod (20 Jan 2008)

The prize bonds FAQ claims the chances of €1000 worth of bonds winning during the course of a year is 3.4 to 1 against. 
Written as a probability where 1 is a certain win and 0 is certain loss this is 0.227272... (= 1/4.4). 

Assuming the odds remain constant the probability of winning at least once over 5 years is 

0.72449 = 1 - (3.4/4.4)^5

Or a 72.449% chance of €1000 held in prize bonds winning something at least once over the 5 years.


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## ailbhe (21 Jan 2008)

They're in her name and she's only 5 so maybe by the time she's 18 her wins will have accumulated into enough to put her through college. She wants to be a teacher, a builder AND a hairdresser so we'll need some serious money to finance all that


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## Eithneangela (21 Jan 2008)

In our family, there are three generations who have prize bonds - certainly more than €1,000 in value.  Never a dickie-bird.  Waste of money, if you ask me, although it was always a present from a parent at Xmas and birthday.  I think nowadays people prefer to buy Lotto tickets.


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## GeneralZod (21 Jan 2008)

Eithneangela said:


> In our family, there are three generations who have prize bonds - certainly more than €1,000 in value.  Never a dickie-bird.



There's probably a filter effect here with only the people that have failed to win something complaining. I had €1270 in bonds for 7 years and didn't win anything either.  I would like to see independent verification of the win probability claimed by the Prize Bond Company.


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## ClubMan (21 Jan 2008)

I bought some _PBs _a few years back and soon after won two or three €75 (?) prizes. Since then nothing. Luck of the draw I presume?


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## GeneralZod (21 Jan 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Luck of the draw I presume?



Using the figures available in their audited Annual Report for 2006 I can verify that their claimed win rate appears to be accurate.

The fund value at the end of the year was €588.8m and the number of prizes awarded for the year was 145,793. The prize bonds are demoninated in units of €6.25.

Thus the probability of a single bond winning once during the course of the year is 0.001549 = 145,793 / (5.888x10^8/6.25).

The probability of €1000 held in bonds winning at least once is approximately 0.24795 = (1000/6.25) * 0.001549.

This is approximately matches the claimed odds of 3.4 to 1 against.


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## athens2004 (21 Jan 2008)

I have prize bonds for the last thirty years and about 2 months ago I had my frst win of 75 euro


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## ClubMan (23 Jan 2008)

Eithneangela said:


> In our family, there are three generations who have prize bonds - certainly more than €1,000 in value.  Never a dickie-bird.  Waste of money, if you ask me, although it was always a present from a parent at Xmas and birthday.  I think nowadays people prefer to buy Lotto tickets.


_Lotto _is much more a waste of money than _PBs_. At least with _PBs _you are guaranteed your nominal capital sum back. With _Lotto _you are guaranteed nothing and the odds of winning are much, much shorter.


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## FredBloggs (23 Jan 2008)

I know a few people who swear by Prize Bonds.  A freind of mine puts all his savings into bonds and says his winnnings far outstrip what he'd have got in the bank.

My parents win about €75 each year on their bonds but I've no idea how much they have in prize bonds and whether this represents a good return.  They seem happy whenever they get prize cheques in the post.  As far as I know they've had their bonds for about 40 years and I don't think they've ever won more than €100


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