Mega Millions and Powerball winners should do 2 things right away

Be prepared if you have the winning Powerball
numbers.
Joshua
Lott/Getty

• The Powerball
  and Mega
  Millions lottery jackpots are worth over $1 billion
  combined.
• If you’re lucky enough to have the winning numbers,
  fight the urge to immediately tell everyone you know.
• It’s wise to consult a trusted financial planner and
  lawyer before claiming the prize.

Over $1 billion is up for grabs.

By the next drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot will be
worth at least $848 million, and the Powerball lottery has an unclaimed pool of $345
million as of Wednesday morning. Together, their combined
jackpots are currently worth nearly $1.2 billion. Both lotteries
are available for residents of 44 states and Washington D.C.

A Powerball winner — or winners — may be selected Wednesday
night, and the next drawing for Mega Millions will take place
Friday night.

The math suggests you shouldn’t play the lottery, as Business Insider’s Andy Kiersz has
shown, but millions of people do anyway — especially when the
potential winnings swell.

If you decide to try your luck, make sure you know what to do in
case you land the big prize.

Keep the win a secret

You just won millions of dollars — and you want to scream it from
the mountain tops.

Don’t.

“Once you’re announced as the winner, the sharks will start
circling,” Kristen Euretig, financial planner and founder of
Brooklyn Plans, told Business
Insider.

Only six states allow the winners of the lottery to keep their
identity private, but there are ways to make sure
your ownership of the jackpot isn’t public.

Your jackpot win is on a need-to-know basis, and your second
cousins and coworker’s roommate don’t need to know. As soon as
they find out, everyone you know could be asking for a slice of
the pie.

Announcing your big win on social media can have serious
consequences as soon as every person you went to high school with
suddenly wants to chat. Even if you are a person who loves
helping others, it is foolish to hand money to any person who
asks.

If you end up sharing your winnings with every acquaintance and
old classmate, your earnings can really start to suffer and the
victory could become less glamorous.

G-Jun
Yam/AP

Find professional help

Next, hire professional help. Far too often, big time lottery
winners don’t know how to handle their newfound wealth and
squander it away.

Euretig said winners shouldn’t “get too many designs about your
next moves until you can work with a financial planner who will
assemble your team of experts to best advise you on your
options.”

A financial planner can help you decide
whether to take the lump sum or annuity payments. They can
also help you plan your spending and make plausible decisions,
like investing and saving for retirement.

“It may seem like you have an infinite amount of money to work
with, but before you understand the tax implications and options,
it’s best to hold tight,” Euretig said.

In addition to a financial planner, a lawyer would be a good
person to have on your team to help with legal problems that may
arise from winning the lottery.

Right now, hiring a lawyer and financial planner may sound
expensive, but after winning a fortune of almost half a billion
dollars, consulting fees are a small price to pay for security
and peace of mind.