€25k invested in prize bonds

Finally got connected. €150 for me today.

Second quarter 2024 at 13 x €75 (€975) was identical to the first quarter 2024.

Half year comparison over the years (my holding has changed)

2018 (Jan-June) - 9@€50     €450

2019 (Jan-June) - 13@€50    €650

2020 (Jan-June) - 12@€50    €600

2021 (Jan-June) - 1@€50     €50

2022 (Jan-June) - 7@€50     €350

2023 (Jan-June) - 10@€50    €500

2024 (Jan-June) - 26@€75    €1,900

Nothing in June on €70k,2 X €75 in 2024.

240,887 prizes worth €23,066,275 awarded to the lucky ones in the first 6 months of 2024. The majority of holders got nothing and there are about 7.77 million of them, less than 4% will win any prize over a year if ever.

The odds for 1 bond winning are c. 80,000/1 per draw. Over a Qtr. with 13 draws it looks like 6,100:1.

While some people are buying prize bonds more are selling up with about 10 million fewer bonds in the fund at the end of June.

It will be interesting to see how many €75 prizes are awarded in July as an indicator of how much was pulled out in June. I won't be surprised if they get below 9080 next Friday.

Good Luck

June count, the same 10 million bonds BGF to BGO in each of the 4 draws. None of these bonds won a big prize.

Friday 07. 129 prizes. Highest BGO 14. Lowest BGF 8.

Friday 14. 104. BGI 16. BGL 5.

Friday 21. 133. BGM & BGN 20 each. BGL 8.

Friday 28. 136. BGG 23. BGF & BGJ 8 each

Highest overall BGG 66 (14,13,16,23). Lowest BGL 37 (11,5,8,13).

40 million bonds won 502 prizes, average per million 12.55. x 52 x €75 = €48,945. Divided by 62.5 to get what €100K would win in a year with the same luck equals €783.12. Nearest to 10 x €75.

Won €75 today. Last win was December 23, another €75. Only won 2 x €50 before that having owned €2500 worth since then.

They write to me. Tried a few years ago to have them contact me by email but seemed impossible for them. It was even a big rigmarole to prove who I was

Nothing for me today.

The number of €75 prizes in the July draws is 9,096 down from 9,124 in June. The newest bond to win on 07 June was BGP773709. Newest 05 July BGU188557, sales of around €21.585 million.

Newest on 05 January BFQ188557, 05 July BGU188557. Sales of around €187,736 million. First six months of 2023 was €291,549 million, so down by €104 million.

Invested on 6th June 2024.

7th June - No win

14th June - €75

21st June - 0

28th June - 0

05th July - 0

The number of €75 prizes in January was 9,323, down to 9,096 in July. A reduction of 2.435%. Applying that to the value of the fund at the start of the year, €4,651.9 billion gives a current value of €4,538.6 billion, reduction of €113.3 million.

Added to the sales of €187.736 million but deducting €23 million for prizes would mean that bonds valued at around €278 million have been cashed in. 2023 was €219.718 million in the first six months.

Six wins in France 05 July, three to the same person. One win in Germany, but that lucky person got €1,000.

Nothing again on 5k

I've seen some equally eratic results, which leave me wondering. For instance in 2021, my holding was comprised of five batches which were equal in size. One batch won 5x€50, another won 1x€50 and the remaining three won nothing. The overall win rate was approx 35% of expected .25% return at that time.

What lingers in the back of my mind is that the draw is conducted exclusively using software, and having spent many years managing and interfacing with software developers this is an very human activity, subject to human failings. The software concerned must include some some unusual elements, e.g ensuring randomness and allocating a 1.6% better chance of winning to bonds issued in IEP. I've often wondered what validation and third party scrutiny the software and the results are subject to, and the action taken when anomalies are identified, especially ex post facto. Given that so many aspects of state savings operation are pretty shoddy, e.g. website, administration, procedures etc I wonder how likely it is that the prize draw software has achieved faultless accuracy in the 30 years since the draw moved from drawing numbers from drums to software based.

100k Invested on 6th June 2024.

7th June - No win

14th June - €75

21st June - 0

28th June - 0

05th July - 0

12th July - 0

(disappointing win rate so far)

€75 for me.

A selection of my bonds worth €8,143.75 with 4 wins in just under 9 months. Compared to the other selection worth €10K which got one win in six years. That is a demonstration of the randomness we all know about. Also Louth got a €1K and 2 x €500 today, very unusual.

Draw Date Winning Bond Number(s) Win Value

01/03/2024 APY141213€75.00

02/02/2024 APY140863€75.00

12/07/2024 APY140540€75.00

27/10/2023 APY139910€75.00

just to update this. I got that form maybe in a day or 2, signed it and sent it straight back so probably 2 weeks ago now, certainly 10days ago

I received an email on Tuesday telling me they will send me a welcome letter with instructions on how to sign into state savings. I presume this is the PIN or whatever.

I’m still waiting on this letter.

so now 6 weeks and 1 day into the process and I’m no further along.

Absolute joke

Congratulations, I was wondering when it was going to happen, or were you going to beat your own record in winning nothing for the year, it would be a first since you started this thread back in 2011, but you've only had one yearly win since 2020, would be bad publicity for PBs, the starter of this thread winning nothing, can't be having that LOL

Anyway nothing for yours truly this week.