From Time Magazine:

“So many of them wind up unhappy or wind up broke. People have had terrible things happen,” said Don McNay, 56, a financial consultant to lottery winners and the author of Life Lessons from the Lottery. “People commit suicide. People run though their money. Easy comes, easy goes. They go through divorce or people die.”

“It’s just upheaval that they’re not ready for,” McNay told TIME on Tuesday. “It’s the curse of the lottery because it made their lives worse instead of improving them.”

About 70 percent of people who suddenly receive a windfall of cash will lose it within a few years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education.

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Sure we all day dream about not having to worry about where our next meal is coming from and having our bills taken care of - but would winning the REAL LIFE lottery just be too much for most of us?  The anecdotal data would suggest that it is.  I always wonder about this topic cause my husband loves to play lotto...

What would you do if you won the lottery?

How much of the money would you save, spend and give away?

Are there downsides to this good fortune in your opinion?

How would you deal with situations like family/friends/strangers approaching you for money?

Do you think it is possible to win hundreds of millions of dollars and keep your personality, values and outlook on life intact?

Honestly, if I won the lotto, I would set aside ~50% for taxes, pay off my current debts (house, credit cards, etc.), and invest the rest between a couple different IRAs and investment accounts, and donate roughly 25% of the yearly dividend to charities (tax write off) while reinvesting the rest. I would afford me the opportunity to be debt free, have a nice safety net, and plenty of retirement income.

As far as family and friends, I may tell my family that I won, but limit how many people know simply so I wouldn't be swamped by people asking for handouts.

Biggest downside, of course, is taxes. The feds would take ~40%, the state easily another 10%. That "$500 million estimated value" is based on an annuity (shit), and the lump sum payment would be maybe $200 million, which leaves around $100 mil left after taxes at best. Watching and hedging against this would become an instant priority. 

Hire an accountant, lawyer, and fiduciary financial advisor to go over my best options to retain as much of the final payout as possible.

No, I wouldn't quit working (everybody needs to feel "valid" in society), but I would potentially cut back on hours a bit so I could spend a little more time with my family and working on various hobbies.

It probably would change me lol. I will either be very responsible with the money and not spend it all the first second, or spend it all in a second.. It probably depends on my mood at the time.

well to be honest my life would look different

I cant tell how much it would changed me but for sure it will

I would buy better car,new house and tons of new shits for myself,my family and friends

we can all tell bla bla bla money would not change us but I m not so sure in that

I think it's fairly easy to say you wouldn't be changed by winning the lottery, it's much harder to actually have the self-control needed to not be changed when it actually happens though. The problem is people don't go on a huge spending spree, they do however get the attitude of "Eh, I can afford that, I got tons of money. Might as well get it" And this progresses into the spending spree and running out of cash.

Winning big on lottery is every ones dreams but not many will do it.

The lottery did not make their lives worse. They made decisoions that made their lives worse.