{"id":8035,"date":"2019-03-01T00:14:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T00:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/new-ernie-same-slim-odds-of-winning\/"},"modified":"2019-03-01T00:14:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-01T00:14:06","slug":"new-ernie-same-slim-odds-of-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/new-ernie-same-slim-odds-of-winning\/","title":{"rendered":"New Ernie, same slim odds of winning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Media caption<\/span>Premium Bonds numbers generator Ernie 5 is launched<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It has responsibility for drawing the winning numbers for three million prizes every month, worth \u00a390m, and now it is getting a new lease of life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ernie – or Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment – is the machine which lives in Blackpool making the regular Premium Bonds draw.<\/p>\n

Its fifth incarnation – a computer chip the size of a grain of rice – has now drawn its first winners. Selecting the numbers only takes minutes, compared to the nine hours taken by its immediate predecessor and the 10 days it took Ernie 1 to complete the draw.<\/p>\n

But, whatever the speed of the selection, there is no improvement in the 24,500-1 odds of each bond winning a tax-free prize of up to \u00a31m.<\/p>\n

Ernie’s story<\/h2>\n

In its long history the technology behind Ernie has changed dramatically.<\/p>\n

Ernie 1 was developed in the Post Office Research Department in Dollis Hill, north London, where the code-breaking World War Two computer Colossus was constructed.<\/p>\n

It was a massive contraption – a hybrid vacuum tube and transistor machine – and it started work in 1957.<\/p>\n

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\n A key member of the original team, Harry Fensom, works on the first Ernie
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\n Ernie 1 was the first machine of its kind in the world
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The original was retired in 1973 and replaced by a machine designed to look like one of the sets from the James Bond film Goldfinger.<\/p>\n

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\n A Honeywell 316 microcomputer controlled the system of Ernie 2
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Next, in 1988, came the more bijou and faster Ernie 3.<\/p>\n

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\"ErnieImage copyright<\/span>
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\n Ernie 3 was five times quicker than its predecessor
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This was replaced by Ernie 4 in 2004, which has drawn more than three million winners in its time.<\/p>\n

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\n Ernie 4 will now be retired to the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park
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Now, Ernie 5 has started to select the winning numbers<\/p>\n

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\"NewImage copyright<\/span>
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\n The new computer chip that powers Ernie 5 is the size of a grain of rice
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The newest, fastest machine is now choosing the winning numbers, with the technology housed in a tiny computer chip. The first \u00a31m jackpot winners are a man from Somerset and a woman from Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n

All the previous machines have used thermal noise to produce random numbers. The latest version is powered by quantum technology – the ability to produce random numbers through light. <\/p>\n

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\n The first winning Premium Bond number in 1957
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The savings product was launched by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in April 1956, with the first bonds going on sale in November of that year, and the first draw the following year.<\/p>\n

As well as providing an alternative way to save, the hope was that it would also help reduce inflation.<\/p>\n

It has become one of the most popular savings products in the UK, with 21 million people holding these bonds sold by government-backed National Savings and Investments.<\/p>\n