Publisher Clearing House or PCH is one of the most contradictory companies nowadays. It occupies several niches and offers huge prizes, which seem suspicious to many skeptics.
Although you can find this company in the gambling news rarely, it provides exclusive services to gamblers who want to win big sums of money.
Behind the scenes of Publisher Clearing House
To understand the company’s concept better, it is necessary to explain how it works. PCH is a business focused on direct marketing and sales of magazine subscriptions, but it uses an unusual approach to the promotion of its services.
The company promotes its products via sweepstakes. To use the opportunity to claim winnings, users should apply for a magazine subscription, but it isn’t obligatory. PCH also allows them to participate without purchasing a subscription, but they will need to follow extra terms. Players say that it is simpler to buy a magazine than to meet all other requirements necessary for participation.
This marketing strategy is a phenomenon to some extent. The company increases the number of its subscriptions using creative and unusual methods. Many experts say that such tactics isn’t fair and is mostly aimed at generating more money from entrance fees. At the same time, from the business point of view, it is an effective strategy. Moreover, Publisher Clearing House doesn’t offend against the law by its services.
PCH hasn’t always been involved in games of chance. The company started its way in 1953 as a provider of various subscriptions delivered by mail. Later, its founder, Harold Mertz, decided to add the opportunity to win a prize by subscribing. This, of course, drew the attention of many legal authorities as the legitimacy of these services was in doubt. After several legal battles, PCH has got the official right to operate in fifty states.
So, despite the company’s games of luck face much criticism, it is legal. The combination of very different verticals, such as magazine subscriptions and gambling, may seem too strange. However, Publisher Clearing House chose a non-traditional promotion method, and it was effective.
1967 became a special year for the company because it started to offer sweepstakes. The prize sums were ridiculously small at the beginning – participants had a chance to get from twenty-five cents to ten dollars. With the increase in the number of people who were interested in sweepstakes, the prize pool began to grow continuously. This led to $250 000 as a prize sum. Even this result wasn’t enough for the company, and it launched an advertising campaign on television. PCH was engaging more and more people who were fascinated by possible winnings.
Of course, PCH didn’t have so much trust from users, like a more regulated Camelot lottery, for example. Its name was connected with many stories, which indicated its unfair approach to those people who didn’t buy a subscription. Nonetheless, the company’s services and products attract many users.
PCH games library
The company’s gambling nature is supported by its gaming library. Publisher Clearing House offers its customers a wide range of titles. The gambling entertainment is represented by the following games:
- lotto;
- slots;
- quizzes;
- scratch-offs;
- sweepstakes;
- instant win games;
- card games;
- strategy games;
- arcade games;
- and even Chinese mahjong games, which are frequently depicted in anime about gambling.
In general, the website includes all standard games peculiar to an online casino. The slots category consists of several popular titles, which are widespread among gamblers. The same situation is with other categories, which include top titles.
What are PCH token games?
Speaking about PCH, we can’t but mention tokens. It is a kind of virtual currency, which users can earn by playing the games. Tokens allow players to participate in draws, which reward winners with valuable prizes. Each participation has a certain cost estimated in tokens. If a player doesn’t use all tokens, they won’t disappear at the end of the month. The website’s blog is packed with information about this virtual cash and how to apply it in draws efficiently.
Tokens can be earned by playing several games. They are video poker, mahjongg, card games, word finders, arcades, and various puzzles. It is worth mentioning that all types are represented by several games for players not to get bored with the same content.
How to play PCH lotto?
Publisher Clearing House’s lotto offers really impressive jackpots, which can add a player to the list of the richest persons in the world. For instance, the current jackpot on the website is $3 181 818.18. The process of choosing the numbers is simple: a player can do this by himself or herself or use the Quick Pick option, which selects numbers. The next step is to pick the Power Number, which can be also generated on the website randomly. Then a user clicks “Submit” and gets the result.
Overview of PCH keno
Keno belongs to PCH’s lotto category and also allows players to replenish the balance with more tokens. Draws take place every ten minutes, and players have a chance to win rewards. All they need to do is to select ten numbers from the card. In addition to this, they have an opportunity to unlock more cards.
The anatomy of PCH sweepstakes
Undoubtedly, sweepstakes are the most interesting topic related to this direct marketing company. Sweepstakes, or sweeps, are a kind of giveaways held by PCH. They first appeared in 1967 and became the most demanded sweepstakes in the US, although the chances to win there were very small – one person in several billion people.
As has been mentioned above, to participate in sweepstakes, players can either purchase a magazine subscription or just apply for this without it. They can do this on the company’s website where they will find a list of available offers. Another option for those who don’t prefer the digital world is to use mail. A participant should respond to PCH’s letter or send a letter to its address. And the last method is to call a special number where a bot will help a player to submit an entry.
The website includes several sweepstakes dedicated to various activities and aims. These themes for draws make them even more exciting as users can imagine what they will get by winning it. Currently, Publisher Clearing House offers $10 000 sweepstakes with the following themes:
- Great Outdoors Giveaway;
- Pay Off Your Debt;
- I’d Rather Be Fishing.
All giveaways are categorized on the website, so participants can choose what is more desired for them. They can choose among such groups:
- financial freedom;
- lifestyle;
- million dollar;
- cash is king;
- pet sweeps;
- makeover;
- win for life;
- dream home;
- etc.
As you can see, the company targets and meets the most widespread people’s needs and dreams.
Three things to know about PCH
Although everything is quite clear with sweepstakes and draw games, several topics require additional attention.
What is PCH Search and Win?
PCH’s field of activity is so wide that it even doesn’t seem surprising to find unexpected services, which belong to this company. One of them is, without a doubt, PCH Search and Win – a special search engine that also allows users to win prizes. Its previous name was Blingo but Publisher Clearing House renamed it and adapted it to its brand.
The idea of this search engine is, again, quite creative because the company has revamped it for its services. Bearing in mind that millions of people search for information every day, PCH has decided to take advantage of this fact. It offers its search engine users the same functionality as Google but with additional opportunities. PCH Search and Win allows them to find the necessary information and benefit from the search system.
To get a chance of winning a prize, a person just needs to sign up in the system. The company doesn’t require any extra filling in forms or other actions. Registered users can search whatever they want (besides, all search results are based on Google’s and Yahoo’s data). The only requirement is to query specific topics, not something meaningless. Moreover, those users who try to cheat on the system will be punished and banned from participation in giveaways or even from the service.
It is important to mention that the company has a set of rules for the PCH Search and Win draws, and it will be useful to read them before participating. Basically, participants must be at least thirteen years old and follow the guidelines. The search engine is available to users all the time, but only the first twenty-five queries can be winning.
The main question is what a person can win in these giveaways. According to Publisher Clearing House, users can get three types of rewards:
- tokens;
- instant prizes;
- and SuperPrize access.
The second type covers many gifts, including but not limited to cash, Amazon certificates, etc. Of course, SuperPrize attracts users most of all because they can compete for one million dollars or even more.
How to download the PCH app?
If a personal computer isn’t your favorite type of electronic device and you prefer using a smartphone, it doesn’t mean that the PCH services aren’t for you. The company has developed a mobile solution – the application where players can enjoy a complete package of games to win big.
The app is available for iOS and Android. Users can download and install it easily, like any other mobile software. In addition to giveaways and sweepstakes, players can also entertain themselves with the PCH slot games or lotto.
If you think that the smartphone app offers the fewer amount of prizes, you are mistaken. It also allows users to become that lucky person who has won millions of dollars. Furthermore, those who have installed the application get additional features that aren’t available to users of the web version.
PCH payment options
As Publisher Clearing House is a US-based company, its payment methods are mostly oriented towards this country’s citizens. The company has implemented such payment systems as Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. If to believe the information provided on the website, there aren’t any extra fees for transactions.
Read more: Best Gambling Payment Providers
