Friday’s jackpot was the second-biggest prize in the lottery’s 20-year history and came with a cash value option of $742.2 million.
The next drawing is Tuesday at 11:00 PM ET, according to the lottery’s website.
Timothy Schultz, who won the $28 million Powerball jackpot in 1999 and now hosts a lottery podcast, told CNN that winning “can literally turn your life upside down.”
After he checked his numbers in the newspaper and realized he had won, some of the first calls he made were to lawyers and financial advisors.
“It changes everything, relationships, your ability to live life,” she said. “I think it can buy time, which can be invaluable. And, it’s one of the most surreal life-changing things that can happen to someone.”
Working with a financial advisor can benefit those who don’t have experience with millions because an advisor can help winners understand what they can realistically do with their winnings.
Schultz said he didn’t consider himself a materialist before he became successful, so his luxury purchases were a few cars and real estate.
“I’ve found for myself and many people I’ve met and interviewed that when you win the lottery jackpot it enlarges your personality, or at least it can. It doesn’t necessarily change who you are.” he said.
While he rarely plays the lottery these days, he said he bought a ticket for the Friday night drawing.
Mega Millions jackpots start at $20 million in annual prizes and grow based on game sales and interest rates for 30-year US Treasuries. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350.
There are seven less valuable prizes depending on how much a ticket costs and what kind of balls it matches. The odds of winning the $1 million runner-up prize — if a ticket matches five white balls but no Mega Millions balls — is 1 in 12,607,306.
Mega Millions tickets are sold in all 45 states, Washington DC and the US Virgin Islands with drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tickets are sold online in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, but the buyer must be in that state.
CNN’s Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
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