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THE NATIONAL PRIZE bond fund has reached record levels of over €3.4 billion, according to an annual report for 2018.
The Prize Bond Company DAC, which administers the bond on behalf of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) marked 30 years since it was first established last year.
The fund is designed for consumers to purchase prize bonds, similar to an investment but instead of earning interest on their investment, they are placed into a weekly draw to win cash prizes.
Each draw offers a chance to win cash prizes up to €50,000, with two draws held each year with a top prize of €1 million – similar to the National Lottery, all cash prizes are tax-free.
In 2018, gross sales reached €574 million and pushed the total value of the fund up to €3.4 billion.
The prize bonds can be cashed in at any stage with seven days’ notice, and in 2018, repayments of prize bonds totalled €328 million.
The number of prizes awarded, however, dropped last year with 224,474 people winning a prize in the draws, down from the 302,0674 in 2017.
Traditionally, the bonds were sold at local post offices across the country, and while more than half are still purchased in person, some 8% of sales are now completed online.
John Daly, chair of the Prize Bond Company said: “Gross sales of €574 million and an 8.0% increase in the value of the fund to more than €3.4 billion has made 2018 a record year for the scheme.
“Being able to service Prize Bonds customers’ needs across a variety of channels, including the Post Office network, remains a key focus for the company in the year ahead.”
The price of prize bonds are set at €25 for four bonds and the maximum amount that can be purchased by an individual is set at €250,000.
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Hope she is found okay!!!
Best laugh I’ve had all day
Her body was found and then eaten by one of the local tribes
She’s prob just shopping
Or eaten by them fierce creatures
mere cats ….like in life if pie
That’s a bit racist. All islanders are or we’re not cannibals.
They cannot find jumbo jet that disappeared in 2014, yet they hope to find 1 or 2 person propeller plane from 70 years ago, yeah I think that may work.
Not a jumbo jet and by lack of oxygen or intentionally it was crashed in middle of ocean. One thinks that if she was experiencing problems with her aircraft she might go for any land in sight.
So maybe she did crash there. Maybe not. Be cool to solve but won’t hold my breath
Didn’t they find some pieces of her plane and some skeletons on the island there, somewhen in the fifties, thought I read something about that, but can’t remember where
Women drivers crash into anything and still manage to get lost
‘Hunting the mysterious disappearance of……’ What did the English language ever do to The Journal to be abused in this way? One might say ‘Hunting for…’ someone or something or ‘Investigating the disappearance of…….’ someone or something, but ‘Hunting the disappearance of…’ is just bad grammar.
Wow. She’s gonna be really really old if they do find her.
So basically they watched ‘lost’ and got this idea!
Aiiggghhhhtttttttt…..
have your say