‘The Big Letdown For Me Is That We Trusted Them,’ Publishers Clearing House’s Bankruptcy Changes Winners’ Fortunes Once Again

For more than six decades, Publishers Clearing House showed up on doorsteps and slid into mailboxes with sweepstakes prize money that changed the lives of thousands of Americans. Oftentimes, those prizes guaranteed that money would continue coming for the rest of the winners’ lives.

Now, that may all be changing.

Publishers Clearing House filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April, and mobile gaming company ARB Interactive bought the remainder of PCH’s assets. The terms of the sale say that ARB Interactive is not on the hook for any life-long payouts that were won before July 15, CNN reports.

Don’t Miss:

For some winners, like Jon Wyllie of Bellingham, Washington, the news is devastating. 

“This feels like a nightmare,” he told CNN. “I thought this was going to go on for the rest of my life, so I didn’t really have to worry about money.”

Wyllie’s PCH prize was $5,000 a week for life. He had been receiving the money in annual checks of $260,000 and said he wasn’t aware PCH was in any kind of financial trouble until his annual check didn’t arrive in January.

“Why didn’t somebody give me a heads up? ‘Hey, we’re going out of business.’ It’s not a good way to treat anyone,” he said. “Pretty sure I’m going to lose my home.”

Matthew and Tamar Veatch, who won the same prize as Wyllie back in 2011, told KGW-TV they feel similarly. 

“The big letdown for me is that we trusted them,” Matthew Veatch told KGW-TV.

Trending: Backed by $300M+ in Assets and Microsoft’s Climate Fund, Farmland LP Opens Vital Farmland III to Accredited Investors

PCH’s bankruptcy hasn’t just changed the fortunes of thousands of Americans for a second time; it’s also changed the landscape of American pop culture. Long before the existence of $1 billion jackpots from lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions, PCH was paving the way with giant printed checks and surprise porch appearances.

Harold and LuEsther Mertz started PCH in the basement of their Long Island home back in 1953. Initially, it sold magazine subscriptions for multiple companies at the same time through direct mailings, taking a commission on every sale made.

It wasn’t until 1967 that PCH started its sweepstakes program, hoping to attract more attention to its subscription services. This led to the “Prize Patrol,” where PCH employees would show up at winners’ homes with camera crews, balloons, and giant checks.

At its peak, PCH was bringing in millions of dollars each year. However, that all began to change in the latter half of the 2010s, CNN reports. 

See Also: The ECG Hasn’t Changed in 100 Years — This AI Upgrade Could Help Detect Heart Disease Years Earlier

At the time of its bankruptcy filing, PCH had somewhere between $1 million and $10 million in assets, which was nowhere near enough to cover the estimated current value of its promised prizes, $26 million, CNN says.

ARB Interactive says it plans to protect future winners from this same fate.

“At ARB Interactive, we are committed to restoring and preserving the trust that has defined the Publishers Clearing House brand for decades,” the company said in a statement to CNN. “We understand the concerns surrounding unpaid prizes owed to past winners and are taking decisive steps to ensure that every future prize winner can participate with absolute confidence.”

Read Next: An EA Co-Founder Shapes This VC Backed Marketplace—Now You Can Invest in Gaming’s Next Big Platform

Image: Shutterstock