Have you ever wondered whether anyone really wins the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes? One woman thought she did while playing a game for real money on the company’s website. She won five separate digital slots-style games, racking up a total of $5,000. She was happy to wait for her check…and wait…and she kept waiting.

She contacted PCH to let them know their Prize Patrol was running late, and they had terrible news. She hadn’t won those games after all. The company explained in an email that a technical malfunction made it look like she had won, but there was no real prize. All she had were the photos that she took of her computer screen when the win came up on her screen.

She brought her complaint to CBS Sacramento, and they checked with Publisher’s Clearing House. This sweepstakes player wasn’t alone, it turns out: they said that the technical malfunction continued for a few hours, and “a small percentage of people” experienced it. Whether they meant a small percentage of “people who played during that period” or “people on the planet” isn’t clear, but at least the problem wasn’t unique to her.

However, the prize-givers told the TV station that they didn’t want a player “to walk away unhappy,” so they gave her $1,000: at least that was one of her glitchy prizes.

Call Kurtis: I Won A Publisher’s Clearing House Game, Why Am I Not Getting Paid? [CBS Sacramento]

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