1. Shut up
2. Lawyer up
2. Lawyer up
3. Do 1 and 2.
Winner is public record.
4. Change all of your phone numbers and email addresses before telling anyone.
If I win Saturday I’d have a giraffe, no, TWO giraffes, and a life-sized X-Wing fighter by Sunday afternoon.
I’d add another item to the to-do list: move. The winner’s home will be ground zero for the media and far too many folks succumb to the siren song of TV interviews and the inevitable cover of People magazine. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that going public allows people to put a face with the name and in this day and age, it’s even easier to spot the winner in public. And, with all the on-line databases, you can find their address in a manner of minutes.
If I were the winner, I’d establish some sort of real estate trust (or similar arrangement) that could purchase the home without my name on the deed. Preferable location would be a state with a minimum tax burden. Maintain as low a profile as possible, and refer all questions to a carefully selected attorney, whose standard answer is “no comment.” Most people don’t realize how many strangers will approach them for money and get hostile when they refuse their request, or decline to invest in their scheme.
Get rich and disappear sounds like a winning strategy.
Oh, and one more thing: get a concealed carry permit (if you don’t have one already).