Published on: August 29, 2025, 08:20h.
Updated on: August 29, 2025, 08:20h.
- Collaboration Announced Between Modo Casino and Publishers Clearing House
- Modo Casino Named PCH’s Official Social Casino
- Social Sweepstakes spark ongoing debates
In June, ARB Interactive, the company that owns Modo Casino, acquired Publishers Clearing House (PCH). Modo Casino is known for its free-to-play social casino games and controversially allows a secondary digital currency, which some critics argue equates to real money gambling.
On the PCH site, visitors can now find a section dedicated to Modo Casino, branded as the “Official Social Casino of Publishers Clearing House.”
The signup page invites users with the slogan, “America’s Favorite Sweepstakes Meets America’s Social Casino,” offering newcomers 17,500 Gold Coins and “5 Free Sweepstakes Coins” for only $0.99.
In a statement to Casino.org, PCH is voicing its opposition to an upcoming California bill that seeks to ban online sweepstakes games.
“Sweepstakes promotions are legal marketing strategies that facilitate optional in-game purchases of virtual tokens to improve gaming experiences on online platforms,” the company communicated in its testimony to the California Senate Appropriations Committee regarding Assembly Bill 831.
Social sweepstakes casinos provide “sweepstake coins” that can eventually be converted into real cash, contingent upon meeting specific wagering requirements. Gold Coins serve as social tokens that cannot be exchanged for cash or any form of actual value.
PCH’s website focuses on social games where players can earn additional entries into significant sweepstakes contests, while access to slots and live dealer games is exclusively through Modo.
Chances with PCH Significantly Lower than Mega Millions
PCH gained notoriety with its Prize Patrol, a marketing strategy involving PCH representatives surprising winners at their homes to announce substantial cash prizes.
In its prime, PCH operated as a door-to-door magazine subscription service. Many patrons mistakenly believed that subscribing to more magazines increased their chances of encountering the Prize Patrol — which was a fallacy.
With the rise of the internet, PCH shifted primarily to online activities while retaining magazine sales, adapting to focus on online sweepstakes as its principal business model.
PCH has consistently allowed individuals to enter its sweepstakes without any cost. For those looking to enter multiple times daily, the website features social games where players can earn extra gameplay tokens and additional prizes.
Previously, PCH’s revenue model depended on online advertising due to the substantial traffic it received. The company also sold user data from its millions of registered participants to third-party advertisers.
However, it remains true that the likelihood of winning a PCH sweepstakes is exceedingly low — significantly worse than the odds associated with Mega Millions or Powerball jackpots.
At present, PCH is hosting two prominent sweepstakes: a $5,000 prize split between two winners in the “$10,000 American Dream” and a single prize of “$10,000 for Gas & Groceries.”
PCH estimates your odds of winning either of these contests to be 1 in 4.8 billion. In contrast, the chances of winning the Mega Millions jackpot stand at 1 in 290.4 million, while Powerball’s odds are 1 in 292.2 million.
Social Casinos Facilitate Real Money Withdrawals
Casino.org recently conducted an investigation into social casino offerings by registering and actively engaging with several leading platforms. “Free” sweep coins were awarded alongside Gold Coins in return for our real money investments.
We explored various social slot machines and table games, subsequently delving into the sweeps section of the platforms. Our experience included betting with sweeps coins on slots, blackjack, baccarat, and roulette, all while accessing real money games in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Following our gameplay, we successfully redeemed both our earnings and any remaining balance.
A customer service agent clarified that while sweeps coins “hold no cash value,” they are “redeemable.” This appears to hinge on semantic terminology. The withdrawal process for three transactions was completed within a week.
Upon requesting account closure from one sweepstakes casino and explaining our decision due to problem gambling, the online representative replied:
“Your account has been terminated. Feel free to reach out anytime to reactivate it. Wishing you better luck in the future, and I’ll do my utmost to credit some SC to your account upon reactivation.”