Jackpot! You've won the lottery!

What would you do with a million dollars if it suddenly came your way?

When you come to think about it, a million dollars isn't all that much. Once you go on a round-the-world first-class trip and then buy your new house and car, there really isn't much left. Should you just quit your job and then live a decent, but easy life? Will a million dollars be enough to retire on?

All good questions.

Okay. Now, let's say you won a million dollars in the lottery and a couple of weeks later the lottery jackpots to, say, $5m or $10m - would you be tempted to play again? What are the odds that you would win twice? What would it take for you to play again - a large jackpot, or perhaps you would play again anyway (at least now you can afford to!)

Now, let's say that you entered the lottery and you won $300m. Could you ever be the same person again? How would it change your life? Would you still work "just for the fun of it"? Would you spend your time on a private cruise ship somewhere in the Carribean? Would you throw yourself into charity work for the poor and unfortunate?

Here are some post-lottery-winning tips from http://www.lotterypost.com/news-97404.htm:

• Keep that ticket safe.
• Think about your job.
  
• Find people you can trust.
• Decide on a lump sum or payments.
• Arrange for a special account at the bank.
• Change your phone number.

If you are so inclined, you can read here about 8 people who won and then lost their millions. This includes a story about a woman who won the same lottery twice, to a total of $5.4m.

On the other hand, here is a video of an Aussie who bought a scratchie ticket and won a car: http://www.dailymotion.com/tag/lottery/video/90280. For those of you who can view the video, skip the next paragraph.

This guy had won a car and was asked by a TV station to recreate the scene, so they film him going into a newsagent to buy another scratchie ticket. He wins $250,000! He turns to the camera and in a really bewildered voice he says, "I've just won 250,000. I'm not joking. I've just won 250,000." Then he turns away from the camera and starts crying in a not very blokey sort of way. What, I'm supposed to feel sorry for the guy?

Here are some statistics of what lottery winners do with their money (from: http://www.lotterybuddy.com/jackpot.htm). This is taken from a sample of more than 240 lottery winners who won at least $1m each.

• 89% put money in the bank.
• 75% shared money with family or friends.
• 62% bought a new car.
• 58% paid off debts.
• 56% took a vacation.
• 47% donated to charity.
• 37% paid off mortgage.
• 34% bought a house.
• 28% paid for education for self/family.
• 15% changed their overall lifestyle.
• 6% bought a boat.

Surprisingly, none of them stay home to write blogs all day. Curious.