At least 10 winners who were promised annual lifetime checks say the payments stopped without warning, just before Publishers Clearing House filed for bankruptcy in April. For many, what was supposed to be financial security has turned into a financial nightmare.

“Why didn’t somebody give me a heads up?!” said John Wyllie, 61, of Oregon, who won $260,000 a year for life in 2012. “This feels like a nightmare. I thought this was going to go on for the rest of my life. Now I might lose my home.”

Matthew and Tamar Veatch, disabled army veterans from Cottage Grove, won their lifetime payout in 2021 — only to see it vanish.


“It’s cruel,” Matthew told KGW8. “It’s worse to say, ‘Your life is about to change forever,’ and then take it all back.”

The couple said PCH initially told them the payments would switch to quarterly, but before a single check arrived, the company went under.

In July, ARB Interactive bought PCH out of bankruptcy and promised to rebuild trust — but they aren’t paying out old winnings. ARB says the bankruptcy estate is responsible for past prizes, leaving former winners in limbo.

“We recognize the disappointment caused by this bankruptcy,” ARB said in a statement, adding that future payouts after July 15, 2025, will be secure under a new “robust” payment structure.

Darrell Lester, a former PCH senior vice president, says this disaster carries a brutal lesson for future winners: always take the lump sum.

“If you win, take the lump sum,” Lester warned. “If a company goes bankrupt, they don’t have to pay you. Period.”

PCH had filed Chapter 11 claiming payouts wouldn’t be disrupted — but for many past winners, the life-changing money they were promised has simply vanished.