National Savings Premium Bonds
National savings premium bonds have been bought over many uears by people as an investment opportunity as they offer monthly prizes to those whose premium bonds numbers are selected by the NS&I electronic random number selection machine.
In fact many people got into the promotion of the premium bonds and fondly called the machine ERNIE which were the initials of the number selection machine and stood for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment.
National savings premium bonds have been in existance and sold to the public since 1957 and since that year have earned people in excess of £9 billion of of prizes which are tax-free.
The total of prizes produced since the beginning of premium bond sales has exceeded one hundred million.
As time has progressed so have the ERNIE machines and so far there have been four versions with each new model becoming more efficient and capable to handling the increased demand for premium bonds.
This random feature of the premium bond selection machine ensures that every owner of a bond has an equal chance to win a prize although of course the more you own the more chances you will have.