The sad truth is that most people that play the lottery would have no idea how to handle that much money. So the odds are quite high that actual lottery winners won't know how to deal with it.
Can't find any stats off hand, but it's sad that just about all the stories you hear are of winners that crashed and burned soon after winning, couples divorcing, etc.
I suspect that there are plenty of winners that just sock the money away, keep on living, and just take really nice long vacations and retire MUCH earlier than they otherwise would have.
It's also funny how those winning $$$ numbers never add up to that much.
For instance, from one article:
"Instead of taking the $314.9 million jackpot as an annuity, Whittaker opted for a single payment of $170 million. After taxes, he got $113.9 million."
Ouch, 2/3 of your winnings gone before you even get a dime.
Of course, then you have to wonder what he was thinking.
At 314mil, over a 30 year annuity, that's about 10mil a year, or about 872,000$ a month, figure roughly 50% tax on that, and you're still talking 400,000+$ PER MONTH. Is my math right? It's late.
Who couldn't live on that?