I've always wondered exactly how you win the lottery.

If you are fortunate enough to win the $550 million Powerball jackpot tonight, there's all kinds of things you're supposed to do, ranging from putting the winning ticket somewhere safe (obviously), to changing your phone number, to finding the proper legal and financial advisors, and that kind of stuff.  Oh, by the way, experts say you shouldn't quit your job the day after winning the lottery -- but feel free to do so after you've actually claimed your winnings.

I said above that I've always wondered how people win the lottery.  When that big day arrives and you cash-in your winning lottery ticket, how do you get the money?  For example, if you're the only winner tonight, do the lottery people hand you a check for $300 million (after taxes) and you just leave the lottery building like any other person (except for having a check for $300 million in your pocket). Actually, I don't even know where the lottery building is. I suppose I should look into that in case I win tonight.

So, you're driving home with a check for $300 million in your pocket -- what do you do with it? You can't just pull into the drive-in lane at Ocean City Home Bank and stick a $300 million check in the vacuum-tube thing. Do they make deposit slips that can handle all of those numbers?

I also think that if you win the lottery, you should be given the job of lottery drawing host until the next person wins. That seems like I job I could handle after winning $550 million.

These are the things I think about.  Not what I would do with the money, if I won, but how I would get the money to the bank.

I am being kinda funny with this -- I'm assuming there's some high-tech way the lottery people wire money into a secure financial account, instead of cutting you a $300 million check and letting you drive off with it.  If anyone has any experience in claiming large lottery winnings, I'd be interested in learning exactly how it's done.

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