Can Canadians buy UK Premium Bonds or join Save to Win?

In practice, no. Premium Bonds are sold by NS&I and generally need British nationality and a UK bank account, and local gaming laws can block holders abroad. Save to Win runs only through participating US credit unions you'd have to be a member of. Neither is a realistic option from Canada, which is why a homegrown equivalent matters.

What happened to my old Canada Savings Bonds?

Every Canada Savings Bond and Canada Premium Bond reached maturity and stopped earning interest by December 2021, but they can still be redeemed. Take a paper certificate to your bank to get its face value plus accumulated interest. For lost bonds or questions, contact the Bank of Canada's Unclaimed Properties Office.

Why did it take Canada so long to get a prize-linked savings option?

Nothing legal stood in the way. Prize draws run in Canada all the time as contests, the same framework behind Roll Up the Rim and McDonald's Monopoly. What was missing was a company willing to build a savings product around one. No bank or credit union did, so the gap sat open until Lodavo launched the model as an app in 2026.

Do I have to move my money to use the Canadian version?

No, and that's the main difference from Premium Bonds and Save to Win. Both of those require putting money into a government bond or a special credit-union account. Lodavo connects to your existing bank account with read-only access, so your savings never move and keep earning whatever rate your bank already pays.

Save to Win and Premium Bonds: A Canadian Equivalent?

The United Kingdom has Premium Bonds. The United States has Save to Win. Both let you save money and get a chance at winning a prize, without ever risking what you put in. For years, Canadians who went looking for a version here came up empty. The short answer today is yes, there’s one: Lodavo is Canada’s first prize-linked savings program, and it works a little differently from the two famous ones abroad. Here’s how Premium Bonds and Save to Win work, why Canada went so long without an equivalent, and what you can actually use now.

What are Premium Bonds, and how do they work?

Premium Bonds are a UK government savings product, run by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) since 1956, with the first draw held in 1957. Instead of paying you interest, they enter you into a monthly prize draw. Your money is fully government-backed, and you can cash out at any time for the full amount you put in.

You buy bonds in units, from a minimum of £25 up to a maximum holding of £50,000. Every £1 bond has an equal chance in each monthly draw, currently about 22,000 to 1, and the prizes run from £25 all the way up to £1 million, all tax-free. The “prize fund rate”, 3.80% as of the July 2026 draw, isn’t interest paid to you. It’s the size of the total prize pot, spread across every bond in the country. A machine named ERNIE picks the winning numbers. The idea has stuck: more than 22 million people hold Premium Bonds, roughly a third of the UK population. You can see the current Premium Bonds (opens in a new tab) rates and odds on the NS&I site.

What is Save to Win, and how does it work?

Save to Win is a US prize-linked savings program launched in 2009, the first large-scale one in the country. You open a special savings account at a participating credit union, and every $25 you save earns an entry into monthly and quarterly cash draws. You keep every dollar you deposit plus any interest, win or not.

It was built by the non-profit Doorways to Dreams Fund (now Commonwealth) with the Michigan Credit Union League and the Filene Research Institute, starting with eight Michigan credit unions. The account is a 12-month savings certificate with a $25 minimum, and you earn an entry for each $25 your balance grows month over month, up to a monthly cap. State-level prizes run from $50 to $1,000, and a national pool pays up to $5,000. The results made the point: in the early Michigan years, most participants had never held a real savings account before. Today Save to Win (opens in a new tab) runs through credit unions across several states.

Premium Bonds vs Save to Win vs Lodavo

All three share the same promise: your money is never at risk, entry is free, and saving earns you a chance at a prize. What differs is who runs it, where your money sits, and how you take part.

	Premium Bonds (UK)	Save to Win (US)	Lodavo (Canada)
Running since	1956	2009	2026
Who runs it	NS&I (government)	Credit unions (non-profit backed)	Lodavo (fintech app)
How you take part	Buy bonds in £25 units	Open a credit-union savings certificate	Link the bank account you already have
Where your money sits	Held by NS&I	In your credit-union account	In your own bank, untouched
Draw frequency	Monthly	Monthly and quarterly	Weekly
Top prize	£1 million	Up to US$5,000	CA$10,000
Cost to take part	Free	Free	Free
Is your money at risk?	No	No	No

The pattern across all three is the same one researchers keep finding: when you take the downside away and add a prize, people who weren’t saving start saving, and they build steadier habits and a healthier financial footing along the way.

Did Canada ever have a prize-linked savings program?

Not really. Canada had Canada Savings Bonds from 1945 until 2017, and even a product literally called Canada Premium Bonds, but despite the shared name, the Canadian version had no prize draw. It paid a flat, slightly higher interest rate with a longer lock-in. No ERNIE, no jackpot, no monthly draw.

The name is a coincidence that trips people up. Canada Premium Bonds were just a higher-yield cousin of the ordinary Canada Savings Bond, not a UK-style prize bond. After years of fading sales that left the program a fraction of its 1980s size, the federal government discontinued both in 2017 (opens in a new tab), once retail bonds were no longer a cost-effective way to borrow or an investment many Canadians chose. Any bonds still outstanding reached maturity and stopped earning interest by December 2021, though you can still redeem an old certificate at your bank for its face value.

There was never a Canadian Save to Win either. No Canadian bank or credit union ever built one. So for most of the era when prize-linked savings was growing abroad, Canada simply had no equivalent.

So what’s the Canadian equivalent today?

The Canadian equivalent is Lodavo, a free app from a Montreal team that launched in April 2026. It brings the Premium Bonds and Save to Win idea to Canada with one important difference: you don’t move your money into a government bond or a special credit-union account. You keep saving in the bank you already use.

Here’s how it works. You connect your existing bank account, and the more you save, the more free tickets you earn for a weekly draw with prizes up to $10,000, plus a guaranteed weekly prize of at least $100 that always goes to a user. Because Lodavo never holds your money, your savings stay at your own bank and keep earning whatever interest it already pays. The draw is extra, on top of that. Like Premium Bonds and Save to Win, entry is always free and your deposit is never wagered.

It’s legal in Canada for the same reason familiar contests like Roll Up the Rim are: it runs as a contest, not a lottery, with no purchase necessary and a skill-testing question required. If you want the full picture, the prize-linked savings guide walks through the model end to end, and the is it gambling explainer covers why your money is never at stake. You can also watch a real weekly draw happen anytime.

Try the Canadian version

Premium Bonds took the UK by storm because saving stopped feeling like a chore and started feeling like a fun shot at a significant prize. That idea finally has a home in Canada. Ready to make saving exciting? Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and get your first tickets for the weekly draw.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.