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The Mega Millions jackpot now stands at a staggering $1.1 billion ahead of Friday night’s drawing, which would be the second-highest in lottery history.
Players in 45 states, Washington, DC and the Virgin Islands are hoping Lady Luck smiles on them when they buy their Mega Millions tickets today.
What does it feel like to win millions of dollars?
One person is sharing.
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Tim Schultz won $28 million in 1999 playing the Iowa Powerball.
“It’s just joy after winning,” he told Fox News Digital in a phone interview this week.
The Mega Millions lottery jackpot is now over $1 billion. The drawing will be Friday night at 11pm EDT. (Nicole Pelletiere/Fox News Digital)
Schultz worked at a gas station in Iowa and sold the winning ticket.
At the time, he was a struggling college student, pumping gas to get his way through school. A few months before that, he had had a “very vivid” dream of winning the lottery.
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That dream was so real that “I felt like it was probably going to happen at some point,” he said of winning the lottery.
When he bought the ticket he had a “gut feeling” and told friends and co-workers at a card game that night that he would win.
Tim Schultz won $28 million in the Iowa Powerball lottery in 1999. He spoke with Fox News Digital about what happened to him, and the secrets he shares for anyone else who might win the lottery this week or in the future. (Tim Schultz)
Then it really happened: He woke up the next day to find he had won. It was “very surreal,” Schultz said.
Media reports at the time reported that one of Schultz’s co-workers, 20-year-old Sarah Eldar, said she wanted to buy half of his ticket when she bought what would be the winning numbers.
After Schultz won, he said he wanted his share of the lottery winnings and challenged him in court.
A man had a “gut feeling” when he bought a lottery ticket and told friends and work colleagues he was going to hit the jackpot, he said. (iStock)
It turned out that in Iowa, you have to be 21 to play the lottery, so Eldar was ineligible to collect any winnings.
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Eldar eventually gave up all claims to the jackpot, Playusalotteries.com said.
The lottery can affect a person’s happiness positively or negatively, Schultz said, and every winner is different.
“At a certain point I felt a sense of isolation: none of my colleagues, family or friends had won the lottery.”
“Where you live, who surrounds you, who your friends are and how much you earn” are factors, he noted.
“For me, it was initially extremely exhilarating,” he said. “But once that wears off, and it does, you’re still yourself.”
Customers buy lottery tickets for the Powerball at the CA Lottery store in San Bernardino County, California in January 2016. (REUTERS/Gene Blevins)
He continued, “The lottery doesn’t change who you are, but it does magnify your personality and your ability to do what you want to do.”
It wasn’t easy for him to have such a major life event happen to him, Schultz said.
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“Once that excitement wore off, I was still very grateful for this life-changing win, and I’ve never, ever taken that for granted, but there were some things I had to learn,” he shared.
“If I wanted to go on holiday I had to pay for other people [to go].”
“At a certain point I felt a sense of isolation. None of my peers, family, or friends had won the lottery, and I was only 21 at the time, a struggling college student working in a gas station to get me to school.”
“I felt like an outcast,” he continued. “If I wanted to go on holiday I had to pay for other people [to go].”
Schultz said he “learned a lot of life lessons.”
“I learned that the lottery can buy you time [with others]and that’s invaluable, and winning can be a very, very positive thing.”
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He added: “I’m the same person I was before I won, I never liked material possessions, so I felt quite balanced and relaxed.”
In Iowa, the identities of lottery winners are revealed to the public and people “came out of the woodwork” asking for money after they won, he said.
Lottery forms for Louisiana Mega Millions, Powerball and other lottery games fill the drawer at The World Bar and Grill in Delta, La. (AP)
“I had a team of financial advisors, qualified and trustworthy people, who could tell me how much I could spend and how much I couldn’t spend,” he explained, noting that this was very important.
“Once I developed a game plan, I helped the people as much as I could, the people I loved and cared about in my life, and I did what I felt I could for other people. I did many things for other people.”
“At first I got a lot of media attention, and at the time I was a pretty shy person who didn’t really like that kind of attention. I couldn’t even go to a grocery store without people knowing who I was.”
Schultz now interviews other lottery winners on his YouTube channel, noting that they often “have very similar experiences.”
(Below is his interview with a “Cash for Life” winner.)
How well a person handles sudden wealth “depends on who you are as a person and what your goals are in life,” he said.
Schultz does not share where he currently lives, or his family or marital status, keeping his private life private.
“I got a lot of media attention in the beginning, and at the time I was a pretty shy person who didn’t really like that kind of attention,” she said. “I couldn’t even go to a grocery store without people knowing who I was.”
“My advice to anyone who wins is to relax, don’t make any rash decisions and seek qualified financial advisors.”
He added: “I don’t care about that sort of thing now. I accept it.”
She said she loves talking to reporters, now, having gone to college to do journalism and broadcasting. “I also love interviewing people.”
Schultz finds it “very cathartic and interesting” to interview other lottery winners.
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“It’s one of the rarest things that can happen to someone. It’s a little club where we’re together.”
Your advice for the person or people who win Mega Millions?
He said: “First of all, congratulations! Then I would say: Buckle up because it really can be life-changing. It’s one of the most potentially life-altering things that can happen to a person.”
Schultz added: “My advice to anyone who wins is to relax, don’t make hasty decisions and seek qualified financial advisors. Get an understanding of what you can realistically do with the money, then try to enjoy life.”
Deirdre Reilly is senior editor, lifestyle, with Fox News Digital.