PCH files for bankruptcy: Will ‘forever’ prize winners still receive their payments?
Prize winners once promised financial security now face an uncertain future after the company’s collapse.
Publishers Clearing House (PCH), the company famous for its sweepstakes and “Prize Patrol,” filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2025 after years of steep revenue decline. The company’s earnings dropped from $854 million in 2017 to just $182 million in 2023.
At the time of its filing, PCH reported assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities ranging from $50 million to $100 million, including outstanding prize obligations.
Winners hit hardest
The collapse has affected not only the company and its employees but also some of its prize winners, whose lives have been thrown into turmoil.
The most vulnerable are the so-called “forever” winners. Instead of receiving a single lump sum like in state or national lotteries, these individuals were promised smaller monthly or annual payments for life.
Life plans upended
John Wyllie of Bellingham, Washington, is among those caught in the fallout. He won a prize guaranteeing him $5,000 a week for life. Confident in the steady income, the now 61-year-old quit his job more than a decade ago.
That income has now stopped. After acquiring PCH’s assets, mobile gaming company ARB Interactive announced it would not honor payouts for winners who claimed prizes before July 15, 2025.
“This feels like a nightmare,” Wyllie told KGW. “I thought this was going to go on for the rest of my life, so I didn’t really have to worry about money.”
Sudden financial shock
Wyllie realized something was wrong when his annual $260,000 check never arrived 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. Pretty sure I’m going to lose my home.”
Disabled veterans Matthew and Tamar Veatch, who won the same prize in 2001, expressed similar anger, saying PCH had “messed up their lives.”
ARB promises future payouts
ARB Interactive has pledged to honor all future PCH prizes “regardless of ARB’s financial status.” But that provides little comfort to past winners like Wyllie and the Veatches, who suddenly face financial uncertainty and career gaps after years out of the workforce.
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