The wonders and pitfalls that will come with the upcoming record £1.6billion jackpot has been uncovered by a former lottery winner.
Timothy Schultz won a staggering £26million ($29million) in the Powerball in 1999 and he spoke on how his life changed following the triumph and the former victor exposed the negative side to instant wealth.
The winner of the record-breaking US Powerball jackpot this Saturday has now ballooned to £1.6bn ($1.9bn) and Schultz said that a lottery win is "one of the most potentially life-altering things that can happen" and "the exhilaration is through the roof".
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He added: "One minute you have one life, [and the next] your world is turned on its head.
"The euphoria is real, but it eventually subsides."
While many look on the surface of a lottery victory and think its all sunshine and roses, Schultz insists that is in fact not the case and could cause mental anguish, stating it made it "much more difficult to trust people".
He said: "Most people were supportive and happy for me, but I did receive stacks of letters from people asking for money.
"It was difficult to trust new people — that they didn’t want me for the wrong reasons. It felt like some people viewed me as a walking, talking ATM machine."
'Money can't buy you happiness' is a popular term and according to Schultz, its rings true, stating that no amount of money has the ability to "change who [you] are as a person".
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"[It] doesn't change who [you] are as a person. If you were unhappy before, you might be unhappy after," he said.
"There are some very wealthy people in the world who are extremely unhappy. Money can be positive, but it doesn’t necessarily fix all problems."
Schultz said that "winning the lottery can magnify personalities" and added that he believes people become "larger versions of themselves" after winning the lottery.
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