Bash setting on duplicate history lines doesn’t work

Why does the Bash setting on duplication affairs not work? In .bashrc:

export HISTCONTROL=erasedups:ignoredups

It keeps recording ie. writing every command typed in CLI into .bash_history

EDIT :
That practical input is of any kind not just hand typing, but also of command history retrieval
@icarus advice is taken, as to get PROMPT_COMMAND variable cleaned up, but see the effect later in quite time
So confusing.. so please help out clarify the nitty gritty works