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An artist's impression of how €2.15 million might look in a briefcase. Sergii Figurnyi via Shutterstock

Check behind the sofa: €2.15m in Prize Bond prizes are still unclaimed

Over €2 million in prizes are unclaimed – and the State doesn’t have any plans to keep the money for itself.

IF YOU HAVE some old Prize Bonds sitting in a drawer or filed away in a cupboard, it might be worth digging them out.

Finance minister Michael Noonan has revealed that over €2 million in prizes from Prize Bond draws from over the last decade – and in some cases, even longer – remain unclaimed.

While the holders of winning Prize Bonds are usually notified directly whenever one of their entries has won a prize, few people remember to inform An Post about any change of address – meaning notifications are often sent to addresses where the holder will never get them.

As a result, millions of euro worth of prizes have gone unclaimed over the years.

Despite the existence of the Prize Bonds scheme as an unusual way for the State to borrow money – taking a loan from the public, on the basis that the lender could win a nice prize for doing so – Noonan says there are no plans to assume ownership of any unclaimed prizes.

In response to a written Dáil question from Róisín Shortall, Noonan said unclaimed prizes were still considered to be a liability on the part of the National Treasury Management Agency, the body responsible for managing the government’s public debt.

This means the NTMA always sets aside cash to deal with any claims for unpaid prizes – with the money saved in a Post Office Savings Bank account, instead of being stashed in a dormant accounts fund that might make it more difficult to find.

Around €300,000 in prizes from draws held in 2012 remain unclaimed, out of a total prize fund of €46 million, with a slowly decreasing amount of unpaid prizes from previous years.

For 2003, the last full calendar year for which figures are available, prizes of €70,000 are still unpaid – but there are around €730,000 in prizes from before 2003 which have still not been claimed.

Noonan said unclaimed prizes were still considered to be the property of the Prize Bond holder – and if the holder was deceased, the money would be paid to their estate if claimed.

The ‘unclaimed’ prizes do not include prizes which have been awarded in the last six months, so the true figure for prizes unknown to their winner could be even higher.

Holders of Prize Bonds can visit the appropriate section of StateSavings.ie to enter the numbers of their bonds and see if any of their bonds have accrued prizes they don’t know about.

Read: Prize Bond prizes to fall as cost of borrowing goes down

More: 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about Prize Bonds

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17 Comments
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    Mute Lorraine Valentine
    Favourite Lorraine Valentine
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    Jun 16th 2013, 9:35 PM

    Nahhh just checked mine… i have them 13 years and never even won as much as a fiver :(

    66
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    Mute Brian O Cinneide
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    Jun 17th 2013, 6:41 AM

    I put 25 Pounds in the Prize Bonds about 50 years ago and have won not a cent.

    20
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    Mute cooperguy
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    Jun 16th 2013, 8:10 PM

    What if you think you have prize bonds but have no record of numbers etc. Is there a way if finding out your prize bond numbers?

    46
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    Mute Lucy
    Favourite Lucy
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    Jun 17th 2013, 8:37 AM

    You can get them re-issued as far as i know

    4
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    Mute Dermot O'Reilly
    Favourite Dermot O'Reilly
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    Jun 16th 2013, 7:46 PM

    If Prize Bonds are unclaimed why do the operators not contact the legal owners of such prize bonds?

    Surely when one buys a prize bond you give your home address?

    Prize Bonds are registered – the legal owners names and addresses should be on a Register?

    Why therefore are bonds unclaimed.

    If the purchaser move house and forgot to send new address details why can’t the operators put a notice in Newspapers asking people with such names on the bonds to contact them?

    41
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    Mute Vincent F
    Favourite Vincent F
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    Jun 16th 2013, 8:01 PM

    That’s what this piece is doing. Asking you to check your bonds. Log onto site, enter your bond number, and it will give you the news if your a winner or not. No dead line…. So if some aunt bought them for your 1st birthday and your now 36 the system may not know you even hold them. You can log you details on the site in the event you have not won and you then will be notified if your bond wins in the future.

    53
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    Mute ivy mike
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    Jun 16th 2013, 7:38 PM

    Artists impression of the money in briefcase. Thanks for that,,,artist

    35
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    Mute Philip Farrelly
    Favourite Philip Farrelly
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    Jun 16th 2013, 7:56 PM

    I knew they wouldn’t burn the bond holders

    26
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    Mute Gar74.
    Favourite Gar74.
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    Jun 16th 2013, 7:44 PM

    You will need a much bigger briefcase “artist”

    19
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    Mute Niamh McGaley
    Favourite Niamh McGaley
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    Jun 17th 2013, 1:01 AM

    Just checked prizebonds purchased in 1978….and not a penny. Considering there are thousands of prizes every month – must be the unluckiest person in Ireland :(

    18
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    Mute Hugh Byrne
    Favourite Hugh Byrne
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    Oct 29th 2013, 11:10 AM

    I KNOW I’M OLD BUT HAVE BEEN ON THIS SITE FOR 10 MINS AND CAN’T SEE WHERE TO CHECK IF I HAVE WON ANYTHING, NOT THAT I AM EXCITED AT THE PROSPECT OF WINNING WHICH I AM NOT;

    17
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    Mute Darren Tobin
    Favourite Darren Tobin
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    Jun 17th 2013, 2:56 AM

    Have four of em for the last 27 years never won a cent. yet

    10
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    Mute Eddie McGillivary
    Favourite Eddie McGillivary
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    Feb 6th 2014, 10:03 AM

    I have had these bonds for many years , never won a thing. I also know lost of people who have these bonds and have never won anything. It it for real ?

    8
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    Mute martin.
    Favourite martin.
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    Mar 8th 2015, 5:15 PM

    Have one since 1999,
    And not a cent,
    My mother and father always bought these & they never won a penny.

    4
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    Mute Fayyaz Rashid
    Favourite Fayyaz Rashid
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    Oct 10th 2014, 8:13 PM

    Hi I have got 4 since 1981 .Funny thing is how we expect and imagine to win.I don’t understand why should they think about keeping the wins

    2
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