When premium bonds first came out, they cost £1 but that was a lot of money then (1/4 of my weekly wage).
So we had a syndicate of 8 and paid 2/6d each week to buy 1 bond. Each one was bought in the name of one of the syndicate, and the next week someone else, etc, so after 8 weeks we each had a bond.
The agreement was that if anyone won, it would be shared equally with the others, regardless of who's bond it was. But in many years we never won anything. I still have my bonds, and none of them have ever won, even after 1/2 century!
