What percentage interest rate is paid in prizes on Prize Bonds

Brendan Burgess

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Here is their press statement for the Annual Report but it does not mention the percentage - I can work it out,but is there an official figure?

Sales of Prize Bonds at €350m as fund totals €4.46bn





26th of June 2025. The Prize Bond Company DAC, which administers Prize Bonds on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) for retail customers, today published its 2024 Annual Report.



Key highlights of the 2024 Annual Report include:

· Strong gross sales of Prize Bonds of €350.9 million

Value of the Prize Bonds fund at end of 2024 was €4.46 billion
475,102 prizes awarded, a 53.4% increase in the financial year.
The monetary value of prizes was €45.6 million, an increase of 89% in the financial year.


The Prize Bond Company DAC has reported gross sales of Prize Bonds totalling €350.9 million in 2024, reinforcing the product’s longstanding appeal as a unique and secure savings choice among retail customers, who each week have the chance to win a significant number of prizes while retaining the value of their holdings.



During 2024, the value of Prize Bond repayments was €538.2 million. The total sum invested in Prize Bonds was €4.46 billion at end OF 2024. There were 475,102 prizes awarded in 2024, with a total value of €45.6 million. Currently, over 8,500 prizes are awarded weekly with a weekly jackpot prize valued at €50,000 and in addition a jackpot prize of €500,000 in the last weekly draw each month.



As a result of a number of new initiatives including the launch of State Savings Online to make purchases easier for customers, 25% of all Prize Bond sales in 2024 were generated online compared with 21% in 2023. The Post Office remains the primary point of sale, with over 45% of Prize Bonds purchased via the network in 2024.



Debbie Byrne, Chairperson of the Prize Bond Company said “I am pleased to report this strong performance for 2024. This reflects continued customer confidence in Prize Bonds as a unique retail savings product. The value of the Prize Bond fund at the end of last year was €4.46 billion with gross sales of €350.9 million. The number of prizes issued increased by 53% in 2024 along with an increase of 89% to the value of these prizes. The opportunity to win prizes remains a defining feature of the Prize Bonds product and part of its enduring popularity. We make a real effort to have customers engage with us in a way that is convenient to them, 25% of our customers now are online and 45% through post offices.’’



At the end of 2024, unclaimed prizes, i.e. prizes not claimed after six months and which have accumulated since Prize Bonds was established in 1957, were €3.4 million. This represents a small portion of the value of prizes awarded since the launch of the scheme. Unclaimed prizes are held indefinitely until claimed by a bond holder and every prize winner is contacted at the address last registered with the Prize Bond Company. Details of all prizes are available on www.StateSavings.ie.



ENDS
 
Value of the Prize Bonds fund at end of 2024 was €4.46 billion


The monetary value of prizes was €45.6 million, an increase of 89% in the financial year.

So that is roughly 1%?

edit: https://www.statesavings.ie/help-su...e percentage,value of Prize Bonds outstanding.

How are the number of prizes calculated?​

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) sets the variable percentage rate used to calculate the prize fund. Effective from October 2023 this variable percentage rate is set at 1.00% of the total value of Prize Bonds outstanding.

The value of the prize fund is recalculated at the end of every month, in line with the monthly net sales of Prize Bonds.

The rate of interest used and the number and value of prizes are variable and can be changed by the NTMA. Any changes to the Prize Structure will be notified through press advertisements and on the StateSavings.ie website.

Who sets the rate?​

Rates for Ireland State Savings products are set by the National Treasury Management Agency with the approval of the Minister for Finance.

The NTMA reviews rates to ensure that products remain competitive in the savings market generally, whilst providing value to the Exchequer in terms of borrowing costs.
 
Its such a shame the rate i so low - think the UK premium bonds are now at 3.8%!! This is entirely reflective of how poor the easy options are for Irish savers. The fact they can grow sales that much with an effective rate so far below inflation is sad.

And the fact that someone like you Brendan has to go searching for the rate and its not advertised on the front page of the product page on the website is worse - it's as if they know its terrible and don't really want people to know!!
 
The interest rate on Prize Bonds is 0%. There is a chance you might get a prize but they are, in essence, raffle tickets. Most people never see a return, just an asset with a reducing value year on year due to inflation.
 
Peanuts20 said:
The interest rate on Prize Bonds is 0%. There is a chance you might get a prize but they are, in essence, raffle tickets. Most people never see a return, just an asset with a reducing value year on year due to inflation.
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That’s true for small holdings, but at a certain point you start to flatten out the randomness and will see basically the advertised 1%. A few years ago we were between houses so had two full Prize Bonds accounts, our return over the few months was almost exactly the rate at the time (0.35% I think).

FWIW (very little I suspect) ChatGPT calculates that €100-€150k is where you would start to see a fairly stable 1% return.
 
@Duke of Marmalade did some detailed analysis of this a while back - e.g.: here and elsewhere in that long thread:

Prize Bonds are looking attractive alternatives to deposits

You would be better off just buying government bonds than these , the 10year irish government bond yield isnow 2.6% and this is likely to go alot higher as interest rates keep rising
www.askaboutmoney.com
His conclusion was telling...
Duke of Marmalade said:
I ditched my PBs about a year ago - very bad value.
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I have 1% of my overall net worth in PBs myself and add a small amount each month but I'd probably be better off doing something else with this money and may review it imminently.
 
Last edited:
Brendan Burgess said:
Strong gross sales of Prize Bonds of €350.9 million
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Brendan Burgess said:
During 2024, the value of Prize Bond repayments was €538.2 million.
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Brendan Burgess said:
Debbie Byrne, Chairperson of the Prize Bond Company said “I am pleased to report this strong performance for 2024.
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(Quotes from press statement)

If I'm reading it correctly there was a reduction in the amount invested in prize bonds - about 4%. How is that a strong performance?
 
Fortune said:
It a press release. They're hardly going to draw attention to the net outflows.
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Hopefully any media that report it will do so and also highlight the attempted spin. But I'd expect that most are likely to copy and paste the strong performance pieces.
 
Peanuts20 said:
The interest rate on Prize Bonds is 0%.
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The interest rate an individual saver receives is likely to be 0%, but it could be higher. In could, indeed, be higher than they will get on any other capital-guaranteed investment.

The interest rate the State pays is 1%.

The interest rate that savers as a class receive is 1%.

(Plus, of course, the interest is free of DIRT, so the 1% that savers as a class receive equates to an interest rate of 1.51% on any other savings product.)
 
The State should scrap Prize Bonds. They're such a useless investment product that any financial advisor who recommended them to a customer as an investment option for a significant sum would likely be guilty of professional negligence.

They exist as a tax on stupidity and naivete.
 
They're a cheap source of funds for the state. If they were scrapped, the State would have to pay more to borrow the same amount elsewhere. They may be poor value for savers but they are excellent value for taxpayers.
 
TomEdison said:
They may be poor value for savers but they are excellent value for taxpayers.
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Bad investment products are similarly poor value for savers but excellent value for their providers.

The State shouldn't be ripping off its own customers by selling bad investment products.
 
Or, the state shouldn't be ripping off taxpayers by paying more than it needs to for its borrowings?

Note that savers don't have to buy prize bonds unless they want to, based on their assessment of whether the prize bonds meet their investmewnt objectives and are consistent with their attitude to risk. Taxpayers don't have a corresponding choice. So maybe the State's first duty here is indeed to the taxpayers; they are in the more vulnerable position.
 
I think the main reason why they offer such lousy prizes is because they can get away with it, they are taking advantage of the public's inertia. Once prize bonds are purchased they tend to stay purchased so they don't really care about attracting new money, they are just taking advantage of the 4.6 billion already with them. If they can continue to get away with only offering 1% on that 4.6 billion that is alot cheaper than increasing the prize rate to say 2% to get more money in.
If we had a proper ISA scheme and more places to invest money easily they wouldn't be able to get away with this. That is why the UK offers much higher prize rates because there is more competition for the public's money there than here.
 
This thread his triggered me to do a quick bit of research:

my €15,000 worth of Prize Bonds, held since 2012, have earned me €1,600 in tax-free prizes.

That's about €130 a year. Which is derisory. It's time to cash them in and invest in $Trumps instead!
 
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