“Is the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes real?” is one of the most frequent questions I get, but not for much longer.

HISTORY

Here are the Cliff Notes from the Wikipedia page:

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) was founded in 1953 by Harold Mertz with his wife in their basement. They initially offered 20 magazine subscriptions. Within a few years, the company moved out of the basement into an office, and hired staff. In 1967, PCH ran its first sweepstakes to increase subscription sales. The prizes ranged from $1 to $10, and entrants had a 1 in 10 chance of winning. As sales increased, so did the prizes, up to $250,000. PCH began advertising the sweepstakes on TV in 1974. In 1977, American Family Publishers (AFP) was formed to compete with PCH. AFP and PCH competed for exclusive magazine rights, and the race was on to offer the biggest prize. First, $1 million, then $10 million, etc. PCH gave away $7 million in prizes by 1979, $40 million by 1991, and $137 million by 2000.

The problems started in 1992 when thousands of Alternative Meothd Of Entry (AMOE) sweepstakes entries were found in the company’s trash. By law, all entries are to have the same odds of winning regardless of whether the entrant made a purchase or not. naturally, a class action suit ensued. PCH settled by giving discarded entrants a second chance to win.

In 1994, PCH sent mailings telling recipients they were all “finalists,” which led to a lawsuit involving the attorneys general of 14 US states. PCH denied wrongdoing and agreed to pay a settlement of $490,000, along with changing their marketing tactics. It only seemed to get worse from there. There was lawsuit after lawsuit, with PCH spending millions on lawyers and settlements from 1997 to 2023.

ODDS

This is my number one tip: ALWAYS READ THE RULES. Due to all the lawsuits, PCH‘s odds of winning became dismal. The current odds to win $1,000,000 is 1 in 7,200,000,000. Yes, that is 1 in 7.2 BILLION. Your odds of winning the Powerball or MegaMillions are better.

BANKRUPTCY

This month PCH filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it wants to eliminate its mail-order and magazine businesses in favor of digital advertising, where they will offer free-to-play entertainment and prizes. Hmm … It will be interesting to see what prizes and at what odds.

I have never been a fan of PCH due to the terrible odds of winning. It’s why I teach you to focus on better odds sweepstakes. Those that are local, requiring a creative component, ones with many prizes, etc.

What I want to know is if you have won from PCH? (I know they also have giveaways offering many smaller prizes. And when I say smaller, I mean $5 or $10, etc.)