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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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- Budget Day, 17th of April, 1956, Chancellor

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Harold MacMillan unveils something completely

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new for the saver in Great Britain.

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The first premium bond was bought by the Lord

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Mayor of London for just one pound.

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And by the end of launch day,

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five million pounds worth of bonds

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had been sold.

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But 60 years on, are premium bonds still

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worth buying?

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Premium bonds are essentially a lottery,

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each one pound premium bonds you buy

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has a unique number, which is entered

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into a monthly prize draw

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with winners selected by a machine called

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ERNIE.

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You can win prizes between 25 pounds and one

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million pounds.

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But the odds of bagging a prize are high.

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For each one pound bond, you have a 1

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in 30,000 chance of winning 25 pounds,

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and a whopping 1 in 34 billion chance

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of snagging one million pounds.

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To put that in perspective,

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the odds of winning the National Lottery

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jackpot are around 1 in 45 million.

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The good news is that winnings are tax-free.

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And because premium bonds are

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government-backed, your money is 100% safe.

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But it's impossible to predict what you'll

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win, if anything at all.

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You may get a better return by using

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a savings account, ISA, or bank account,

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where you can own guaranteed interest

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every year.

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So are premium bonds the right investment

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for you?

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Find out more in our guide

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at which.co.uk/premiumbonds.

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