<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> <P> In 1992 thousands of discarded sweepstakes entries from contestants who had not bought magazine subscriptions were found in the trash by city employees, reinforcing beliefs that the company favored those who made purchases in selecting a sweepstakes winner . PCH said this was done by a disgruntled employee at their mail processing vendor . A class action ensued, which PCH settled by giving discarded entrants a second chance to win . </P>

When was the last time someone won the publishers clearing house sweepstakes