Life after a Powerball win: What to expect if you strike it rich 
 
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 (CBS News) Lottery players around the country are hoping to strike it rich Wednesday. The biggest Powerball drawing in history now stands at half a billion dollars, the biggest Powerball prize ever -- and the second-largest lottery jackpot in history. 
 
 And that pot could get even sweeter by the time they pick the numbers. 
 
 With no Powerball winner since October 6, lottery officials estimate that 105,000 tickets are being sold every minute nationwide. And the more tickets people buy, the more that jackpot will go up. 
 
 Powerball at $500 million: What to do if you win 
 
 The odds of winning the jackpot are just one in 175,000,000. 
 
 But that isn't stopping players from trying their luck. From New York to Arizona, people stood in line Tuesday after the jackpot soared to $500 million. 
 
 The historic prize is part of a plan lottery officials put in place earlier this year, including doubling the ticket price to $2 in order to boost jackpots faster. By the time of the drawing, lottery officials estimate that Americans will have purchased more than $1 billion in Powerball tickets. There is a 60 percent chance the winning combinations will have been sold. 
 
 Asked if that means there will be a winner, Mary Newbauer, a lottery official told CBS News, "I don't know. We'll have to wait and see, but that's not really a high number when it comes to drawings like this." 
 
 Mary and Brian Lohse know what it's like to hit it big. The couple won $202 million in Powerball just two months ago. 
 
 Mary Lohse said they didn't think they could actually win. Brian Lohse added, "The fact that it was a single winner I think was -- it even makes it more astounding and mind-boggling for us." 
 
 It's mind-boggling because Mary Lohse only bought that ticket as an afterthought at a local gas station one day. Before that, she and her husband were just trying to make ends meet for their three children. 
 
 Brian Lohse said, "We've faced the foreclosure. We've gotten the letter about them picking up the car and, frankly, right before we won the lottery." 
 
 The couple immediately got a lawyer and financial advisers. Then something happened that they didn't expect -- they got dozens of letters from complete strangers asking for help. One letter they received said, "If you could make an individual donation via check for an amount of $500,000 that would be very generous." 
 
 The couple hasn't answered the letters, but they have shared their fortune with their community, planning to help the local high school build a new football stadium. 
 
 For now, the family is still just trying to get over the shock of going from middle-class to millionaires. Mary Lohse said, "I think we both, at some point in the middle of the night have woken up and going, 'Brian, did it really happen? And he says, 'Yes,' and then I go back to sleep." 
 
 And if you're wondering whether the Lohses still play the the lottery the answer also is yes. Since winning Powerball, they've purchased a ticket every week, including one for tonight. 
 
 If there is a single winner in tonight's drawing, that person could take a cash option of $327 million before taxes. 
 
 For Manuel Bojorquez's full report on Powerball and the Lohses' life after their win, watch the video above. 
 
 But if you do win the big prize, what should you do? 
 
 Watch CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford's advice on "CBS This Morning" in the video below. 
 
 You should get a team of financial advisers and lawyers to help you manage your financial future, Ford advised on "CTM." He said, "At this point, guys, can you afford to bring in some people who can provide you with some good advice. Just because somebody says, 'My next door neighbor's brother-in-law is a lawyer you should talk to him.' Make sure you find yourself a good lawyer, good financial analyst and take their advice very early on." 
 
 Also, wait to claim your money, according to Ford. "It's a good idea," he said. "You got to do a couple of things. First thing do you is sign the ticket. ... The reason is it's the ticket that's the winner. You want to make sure that there's no question. There's a lot of people that would love to get their hands on that ticket. Sign it, put it in a safe place. The safe place is not a shoe box in your closet. Get to your local bank. ...Take some time to settle in, get your team in place, make sure you know what's going on here, get the advice. You don't have to run out and tell everybody because what you'll get, everybody in the world will be after you saying, 'Hey why don't you share some of your wealth with us?' Take some time and get things sorted out with the team." ||||| Story highlights Chance of a ticket winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175,223,510 
 
 You have a better chance of hitting two straight holes in one 
 
 A record $550 million Powerball jackpot is up for grabs Wednesday 
 
 Last March, when the people of America were drooling at the thought of winning a record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot, we poured an icy bucket of mathematical reality over your head: You weren't going to win. 
 
 Now, with a record $550 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs Wednesday, we figured it was a great time to, once again, dash your dreams. We know, we know -- someone will win at least a share of the prize, if not Wednesday, then in some subsequent drawing. But it won't be you. 
 
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 The chance of a ticket winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175,223,510 (slightly better than the chance of winning a Mega Millions jackpot, which is 1 in 175,711,536). Here are a few unlikely scenarios that, we're sorry to say, are much more likely than you taking home this jackpot. 
 
 -- Dying from a bee sting: 1 in 6.1 million. 
 
 -- Dying from a lightning strike: 1 in 3 million. 
 
 From U.S. Hole in One , which insures golf prizes for holes in one: 
 
 -- An amateur golfer making a hole in one on a par-3 hole: 1 in 12,500. 
 
 -- A golfer hitting a hole in one on consecutive par-3 holes: 1 in about 156 million. 
 
 From a 2011 State Farm study on collisions between vehicles and deer: 
 
 -- Hitting a deer with a vehicle in Hawaii, the state where State Farm says deer-vehicle collisions are least likely: 1 in 6,267. 
 
 -- Being struck by lightning over an 80-year lifetime: 1 in 10,000. 
 
 From the Florida Museum of Natural History , based on U.S. beach injury statistics: 
 
 -- Drowning and other beach-related fatalities: 1 in 2 million. 
 
 -- Being attacked by a shark: 1 in 11.5 million. 
 
 What do you think about your chances of winning on Wednesday? Weigh in below, or on Twitter using #whataretheodds. ||||| Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 This article was published last February when the Powerball lottery hit $500 million. The point remains the same with the even larger jackpot this week. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Financially literate people like to complain that buying lottery tickets is among the silliest decisions a person could make. And it is true that the odds of winning anything substantial, let alone the estimated $500 million that could be given away if there is a winning ticket in the Powerball lottery Wednesday, are very much stacked against you. 
 
 There is no doubt that people should not spend money on lottery tickets that they can’t afford to lose. If you have a gambling problem, or are financially destitute, it is a terrible idea. And for anyone to stake his or her financial future on lottery tickets is beyond foolish. 
 
 But there are a couple of dimensions that these tut-tutted warnings miss, perhaps fueled by a class divide between those who commonly buy lottery tickets and those who choose to throw away money on other things like expensive wine or mansions. As long as one thinks about the purchase of lottery tickets the right way — again, purely a consumption good, not an investment — it can be a completely rational decision. 
 
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 And if you’re going to ever think about buying lottery tickets, a moment like this — when the Powerball jackpot has reached remarkable highs — is the best possible time. 
 
 The biggest and most generally applicable reason buying lottery tickets is a non-terrible idea is this: It is fun to imagine one’s future after arriving at vast wealth. 
 
 Who doesn’t daydream about what sorts of houses and cars and airplanes one would buy with the half-billion-dollar Powerball grand prize? (It's more like around $340 million in cash value terms; the larger number is if the prize is taken as an annual payment.) 
 
 Fantasizing about what you would do if you suddenly encountered great wealth is fun, and it is more fun if there is some chance, however minuscule, that it could happen. The $2 price for a ticket is a relatively small one to pay for the enjoyment of thinking through how you might organize your life differently if you had all those millions. 
 
 And it doesn’t even have to be a pure abstraction. Sometimes thinking through how you would live your life if money were not an issue can help you focus your thinking about changes to consider in the real world. 
 
 Would your first priority as a lottery winner be to move somewhere warm? Maybe you should consider looking for a job in Florida. Would the new you travel a lot more? Maybe work to save up money so you can do that, even if you will be traveling in economy class rather than in a private jet. 
 
 If this mental exercise would give you more enjoyment than whatever else you would spend $2 on, there is nothing at all wrong with putting that money into a Powerball ticket. 
 
 So why is this an opportune time to buy a lottery ticket, if you’re going to do so? First, it’s (for many people) more fun to fantasize about being fantastically wealthy than to be merely pretty wealthy. 
 
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 But also, the way the Powerball math works, each lottery ticket has a higher present value now than any other time. Looked at as strictly a math problem, you are throwing away less money by buying a ticket when the pot is flush than when it is low. 
 
 The way the Powerball works is that when there is a drawing with no jackpot winner, the money is rolled into a new jackpot. In other words, by buying a ticket for a chance at the jackpot, you are getting a chance to win some of the money that earlier buyers of Powerball tickets put in before their tickets expired worthless. 
 
 The Multi-State Lottery Association estimates the chances of winning the grand prize at about 1 in 175 million, and the cash value of the prize at $337.8 million. The simplest math points to that $2 ticket having an expected value of about $1.93. It’s actually more complicated than that, because that calculation doesn’t account for the fact that there could be multiple jackpot winners who must split the pot. And it doesn’t account for the income tax you will owe on any winnings. 
 
 But the key intuition is that while you are still throwing away money when buying a lottery ticket, you are throwing away less in strictly economic terms when you buy into an unusually large Powerball jackpot. 
 
 I am the type of financial decision-maker who tracks bond and currency markets and builds elaborate spreadsheets to simulate outcomes of various retirement savings strategies. But I also enjoy daydreaming about how I would live my life if I came into obscene wealth. And I can easily afford to spend a few dollars on a Powerball ticket. Time to head to the convenience store and do just that.
– If you're hoping to win that $500 million Powerball jackpot tonight, we have bad and less-than-surprising news for you: It ain't gonna happen. But one person ultimately has to defy the stacked-way-against-you odds, and if that happens to be you, do this: Get yourself some good lawyers and financial advisers, one analyst tells CBS News. Actually listen to them. Sign that winning ticket and put it somewhere safe. Take note: "The safe place is not a shoebox in your closet." Keep quiet, and hold your horses. There's no reason to claim your prize immediately, and it's best to get your "team" set up before you come forward. Because once you do, you can expect to be inundated with appeals from cash-seeking strangers. Remember the winning ticket may not be the answer to your prayers. Time lists jackpot winners who would have been better off burning their ticket. Here's one: William Post III won $16.2 million. Three months after his first payout he was $500,000 in debt (buying an airplane and a restaurant may have been a mistake); his brother allegedly hired a hit man to kill him; and Post himself faced jail time after shooting at a bill collector. But that fate won't be yours ... because as CNN sagely points out, you're not freaking winning this thing: You're vastly more likely to get struck by lightning, be attacked by a shark, or die from a bee sting. On the odd chance that you do win (that chance being one in 175,223,510), here are some quirky ways to contextualize your winnings, compliments of HLN: If you counted one dollar per second, it would take you 16 years to finish. Or you could give a buck to every single person in North America and still walk away with a cool $40 million.