<P> The company acquired search company Blingo in 2006, online gaming company Funtank in 2010, and mobile marketing company Liquid Wireless in 2012 . </P> <P> Publishers Clearing House was founded in 1953 in Port Washington, New York, by Harold Mertz, a former manager of a door - to - door sales team for magazine subscriptions . The company started in Mertz's basement with help from his wife LuEsther and daughter Joyce . Its first mailings were of 10,000 envelopes from Mertz's home in Long Island, New York, and offered 20 magazine subscriptions. 100 orders were received . Within a few years the company moved out of Mertz's basement into an office building and started hiring staff . When PCH moved its headquarters in 1969, its prior location was donated to the city and renamed the Harold E. Mertz community center . The company revenue had grown to US $50 million by 1981, and $100 million by 1988 . </P> <P> In 1967 PCH started its first sweepstakes as a way to increase subscription sales, based on the sweepstakes held by Reader's Digest . The first prizes ranged from 25 cents to $10 and entrants had a 1 in 10 chance of winning . After the sweepstakes increased response rates to mailings, prizes of $5,000 and eventually $250,000 were offered . PCH began advertising the sweepstakes on TV in 1974 . It was the only major multi-magazine subscription business until 1977 . Former client Time Inc. and several other publishers formed American Family Publishers (AFP) to compete with PCH after the company refused repeated requests by Time for a larger share of sales revenue from magazine subscriptions . </P> <P> AFP and PCH competed for exclusive rights to magazines and for the better promotion and prize ideas . When AFP increased their jackpot to $1 million, then to $10 million in 1985, PCH raised its prizes to match . $7 million in prizes were distributed by 1979, $40 million by 1991 and $137 million by 2000 . In 1989 two members of its advertising team, Dave Sayer and Todd Sloane, started the Prize Patrol, a publicized event where winners are surprised with a check at their home . The idea was inspired by the 1950s television series "The Millionaire". </P>

Where does publishing clearing house money come from