
Celebrations after lucky Prize Bond owner scoops €500,000 in weekly draw
One lucky punter from Co Cork is celebrating a huge cash windfall after winning this week's top prize in the Prize Bond Draw.
Ireland State Savings, which runs the draws, confirmed today that this month's top prize of €500,000 is going to Prize Bond number WQ533371, held in The Rebel County. The lucky bond was purchased back in 2014.
There were a total of 8,835 prizes awarded in this week's Prize Bond Draw, amounting to a total of over €1,239,475 in prizes.
Prize Bonds are a State Savings product which, instead of paying interest, offers bondholders the chance to win cash prizes every week.
In addition to a €500,000 prize awarded on the last weekly draw of every calendar month, there are weekly draws where the top prize is €50,000. Other cash prizes awarded each week include 20 of €1,000 and 20 of €500.
Founded in 1957, the Prize Bonds draw,which is held every Friday, is Ireland's longest running prize draw.
Prize Bonds are available in units of €6.25. There is a minimum purchase of €25 (4 units) and a maximum of 250,000 (40,000 units). They can be purchased by Direct Debit, online at www.StateSavings.ie, by telephone to call save 0818 20 50 60 or at the local Post Office.
Prize Bonds are entered into a weekly draw with thousands of prizes ranging in value from €75 to €50,000, with a jackpot prize valued at €500,000 awarded in the last draw every month.
All winnings are tax-free, and Prize Bonds can be cashed in at any time after the minimum holding period of three months.
Prize Bond holders can check draw results online at StateSavings.ie. The main winning numbers are also available in most Post Offices.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
‘They are not a suitable long-term investment' – expert questions wisdom of buying Prize Bonds as sales drop sharply
A total of €351m was spent on new Prize Bonds last year, according to the Prize Bond Company. This was a fall on sales of €489m in 2023, and was well down on the figure from 2022, when €615m in new Prize Bonds were sold. Consumer advocate Brendan Burgess said the bonds are not a suitable long-term investment. The value of the Prize Bonds fund at the end of last year was €4.46bn, also down on previous years. There were 386,307 Prize Bonds sold last year, a fall of 27pc on the previous year. The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which manages the Prize Bond draws, says on its website the prize fund amounts to 1pc of the fund. Mr Burgess, founder of the website, said this was a poor return. Britain's equivalent, called Premium Bonds, have a prize fund of 3.5pc. However, the central bank there has a higher deposit rate than the European Central Bank. Some finance experts claim that buying Prize Bonds means forgoing interest and essentially buying a raffle ticket. ADVERTISEMENT The Prize Bond Company, which sells and markets the bonds on behalf of the NTMA, said the monetary value of prizes was €45.6m last year, an increase of 89pc in the financial year. Mr Burgess said this means the return was a tax-free 1pc. He said this was better than can be earned on a current account. 'But with inflation well in excess of 1pc, these people lost money in real terms,' he said. He said he was he was amazed at the number of people who die with large sums of money in Prize Bonds for years. 'They are not a suitable long-term investment. For a long-term investment, people should be in a diversified portfolio of shares,' Mr Burgess said. Four years ago, the Prize Bond Company controversially scrapped the €1m top prize. It was replaced with a monthly jackpot of €500,000, and a string of smaller prizes. There were 475,102 prizes awarded last year, with a total value of €45.6m, the Prize Bond Company said. '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,' it said. Chairperson of the Prize Bond Company, Debbie Byrne, said there has been a big shift by consumers to buying Prize Bonds online. A quarter of all Prize Bond sales last year were generated online, compared with 21pc in 2023. Ms Byrne said the €351m in sales last year reflected continued customer confidence in Prize Bonds 'as a unique retail savings product'. She said the number of prizes issued increased by 53pc last year, along with an increase of 89pc 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,' she said.


RTÉ News
4 days ago
- RTÉ News
Sales of Prize Bonds topped €350 million last year
Sales of Prize Bonds topped €350 million last year, according to the latest annual report from the Prize Bond Company. During 2024, the value of Prize Bond repayments was over €538 million. The total amount invested in Prize Bonds was €4.46 billion at end of last year. 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 a jackpot prize of €500,000 in the last weekly draw each month. At the end of last year, unclaimed prizes - prizes not claimed after six months and which have accumulated since Prize Bonds was established in 1957, totalled €3.4 million. "I am pleased to report this strong performance for 2024," said Debbie Byrne, Chairperson of the Prize Bond Company said "This reflects continued customer confidence in Prize Bonds as a unique retail savings product. "The number of prizes issued increased by 53% in 2024 along with an increase of 89% to the value of these prizes," she added. 25% of all Prize Bond sales in 2024 were generated online compared with 21% in 2023.

The Journal
13-06-2025
- The Journal
Identity of Tattle Life publisher revealed as Irish couple wins £300k damages in legal battle
AN IRISH COUPLE have been awarded £300,000 after suing the publishers of controversial 'gossip' website Tattle Life in a Northern Ireland court. Business people Neil and Donna Sands were originally awarded £300,000 damages against the then-unknown operators of Tattle Life in late 2023. Donna Sands runs the popular clothing brand Sylkie, while Neil Sands is an AI founder and businessman. The couple were subject to defamation and harassment on the website. Tattle Life describes itself as a platform for 'commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain'. It attracts up to 12 million visitors monthly, mostly in the UK. However, the website has long been criticised in Ireland and the UK for threads of toxic discourse based on anonymous online attacks. Numerous Irish influencers and business people have spoken publicly about the effect rumours and inaccurate information had on their lives. 'Threads' or message boards on the website are often filled with criticism on influencers body types, relationships, parenting styles or business practices with little to no proof or evidence. Users mostly comment on the threads anonymously. The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland today granted an application to lift reporting restrictions, as well as orders leading to the identity of the publisher of the controversial website being revealed after a two-year legal battle. The operator is Sebastian Bond, a businessman who according to the plaintiffs' legal team uses a number of aliases, including Bastian Durward – known on the internet as a vegan cooking influencer and author of the book 'Nest and Glow'. The Nest and Glow Instagram account has 135,000 followers. In the latest hearing this week, the plaintiffs submitted to the court that they had identified the actual publishers and sought an order to name them. In the subsequent order today, Mr Justice Colton confirmed the defendants in the case could now be named as Bond, plus two of his firms – Yuzu Zest Limited (a UK registered company) and Kumquat Tree Limited (registered in Hong Kong). During Thursday's hearing, the court was shown a letter sent to one of the plaintiffs by a legal firm acting for Sebastian Bond. The letter stated that Bond was a founder of Tattle Life but that he was unaware of any legal proceedings against him. The Sands' legal team disputed that Bond was unaware of the actions and orders related to Tattle Life. Timeline Neil Sands first wrote to the website's operators in February 2021, asking them to remove a defamatory thread or face legal action, but say they were eventually left with no option other than to formally initiate proceedings, at their own cost, in June 2023. The couple claimed to be subject to defamatory and harassing commentary over a 45-page thread that was only finally removed in May 2025. The Sands' said they were motivated to undertake the action not just on their own behalf but for all those impacted by what they saw as targeted abuse published on the site over many years. The Sands were awarded £150,000 each in damages. The Court also granted injunctive relief (to ensure no posting about the couple should be repeated) and a series of orders designed to trace and freeze assets. In making his award, Mr Justice McAlinden noted: 'A day of reckoning will come for those behind Tattle Life and for those individuals who posted on Tattle Life. Advertisement 'To hasten that day of reckoning, it is appropriate that the court makes an award of damages to each plaintiff in this case. 'It would be remiss of the court to award costs on any other basis than indemnity.' (Indemnity costs include all fees and expenditure incurred by the party taking the litigation, in this case, the Sands'.) And on the defendant's business model, the judge said: 'This is clearly a case of peddling untruths for profit. 'It is the exercise of extreme cynicism — the calculated exercise of extreme cynicism — which in reality constitutes behaviour solely aimed at making profit out of people's misery. 'People facilitating this are making money out of it… protecting their income streams by protecting the identity of the individual posters.' In December 2023, the High Court granted the £300,000 damages award and ordered that legal costs be paid on an indemnity basis, with further costs and third-party compliance expenses raising the total to be injuncted to £1.8 million. The 'cessation' figure – the amount payable by the defendants to lift the freezing orders – now stands at £1,077,173.00. This is understood to be the largest damages award for defamation in Northern Ireland's legal history and includes extensive freezing orders against the identified defendants and their corporate interests, now subject to continuing enforcement and disclosure proceedings. The case was complicated by difficulties in tracking down Sebastian Bond who resided in a number of Asian countries and transferred large amounts of cash from UK bank accounts in an apparent bid to frustrate the orders made against him. The couple succeeded in freezing money believed to be the proceeds of Tattle Life in a range of jurisdictions around the world. Neil Sands said: 'We undertook this case not just for ourselves but for the many people who have suffered serious personal and professional harm through anonymous online attacks on this and other websites. 'We believe in free speech, but not consequence-free speech – particularly where it is intended to, and succeeds in, causing real-world damage to people's lives, livelihoods and mental health. We were in the fortunate position to be able to take the fight to these faceless operators, and it took a lot of time, effort and expense. 'Along the way we heard many stories from those damaged by the scurrilous commentary on the website and we are glad to be finally able to shine a light into this dark corner of the internet. What we have established today is that the internet is not an anonymous place. 'We are grateful to the Court for recognising the seriousness of the conduct involved in this case. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to our legal team at Gateley NI – partners Peter Barr and Rory Lynch – to Northern Ireland counsel, Peter Girvan- and to our technology partners, for their unwavering commitment, professionalism and expertise throughout these proceedings.' Peter Barr, Gateley NI, added: 'This wasn't just a matter of law – it was a global forensic investigation. We had to pursue the money around the world, from the UK to Hong Kong, using a mix of legal innovation and digital evidence to expose what was clearly a sophisticated effort to avoid scrutiny. This judgment sends a clear message that online anonymity cannot shield unlawful behaviour.' Rory Lynch, partner and head of reputation management at Gateley NI, also said: 'This was a game of high stakes, international cat and mouse that ran for three years, with an anonymous defendant determined to avoid accountability at every turn. It is testament to the indefatigable determination and courage of Neil and Donna Sands that justice was rightly served.' A further case review is scheduled at the High Court for 26 June 2025. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal