What to Do if You Win a Really Large Lottery Jackpot

Most everyone has Mega Millions fever right now. It's definitely the big buzz topic in almost every home and workplace at the moment. With people daydreaming about all the different things they would and could do with all that cash.

The jackpot keeps climbing due to the fact that no one had a winning ticket on Friday, (October 19) that matched all six numbers in the $1 billion grand prize drawing.

The next drawing comes up on Tuesday, (October 23) where the estimated jackpot will more than likely reach a record-setting $1.6 billion, making it the largest lottery jackpot in US history.

If you're a frequent player of the Mega Millions game, you already know it runs you $2 a crack to play, and your odds at winning the jackpot are really slim, and slim just left the building.  As KSFY TV reports, the chance of matching all six numbers and taking home the grand prize is one in 302.5 million.

But let's say you were lucky enough to win the Tuesday night drawing, is it possible to blow through all that cash? The answer is yes if you're not extremely smart about the way you handle your spending upon winning.

Elgethun Capital Management owner John Barker told KSFY TV, the first thing a major lottery jackpot winner needs to do upon winning is contact a financial expert.

Barker said, “Find an estate attorney or a good CPA and then they can refer you into financial institutions and places like that." According to Barker, you need to “Create a vision or mission statement for what you want to do with the wealth. If you have a bad system going in, and you don't change it, you can lose that kind of money.”

KSFY reports that roughly a third of lottery winners end up filing for bankruptcy. A sobering thought, but true nonetheless.

Barker suggests taking the lump sum of money in any lotto situation unless you're really bad at blowing through money. If that's the case, you absolutely need to stick with the annuity plan.

Winning that kind of cash that quickly, can create a lot of problems. Those problems usually come in the form of spending, and family and friends. That's why Barker highly suggests keeping things on the down low if you're lucky enough to end up with a big lottery jackpot ticket.

Barker told KSFY that he recommends finding an attorney that can help you try and funnel the money through a trust or LLC to maintain some privacy.

With all this in mind, you can start daydreaming about dollar signs again. As Spaulding from Caddyshack would say, I'll take a hot dog, a coke, a new boat, three Lamborghini's, a house in the Hampton's...you'll get nothing and like it!

Good luck on Tuesday, oh yeah, and please don't forget who helped tip you off to all this sage advice.

Source: KSFY TV