The third-largest jackpot in U.S. history has a winner. A single ticket sold in Wisconsin matched all six numbers in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing to land the $768.4 million top prize. For whoever is holding that valuable slip of paper, life is about to get a bit crazy. "Everyone who buys a ticket dreams of winning the huge jackpot, but nobody actually thinks they will win, or has a plan in place if they do," said Jason Kurland, a partner at Rivkin Radler, a law firm in Uniondale, New York.

Largest U.S. lottery jackpots Rank Amount Date won Game Winner locations 1 $1.586 billion Jan. 13 2016 Powerball CA-FL-TN 2 $1.54 billion Oct. 23 2018 Mega Millions SC 3 $768.4 million March 27 2019 Powerball WI 3 $758.7 million Aug. 23 2017 Powerball MA 5 $687.8 million Oct. 27 2018 Powerball IA-NY 6 $656 million Mar. 30 2012 Mega Millions KS-IL-MD 7 $648 million Dec. 17 2013 Mega Millions CA-GA 8 $590.5 million May 13 2013 Powerball FL 9 $587.5 million Nov. 28 2012 Powerball AZ-MO 10 $564.1 million Feb. 11 2015 Powerball NC-PR-TX

"When I receive that initial call from a winner, I can hear the anxiety in their voice," said Kurland, who helps lottery winners navigate their windfall. "Many of them don't even tell me their real name at first." The jackpot, originally estimated at $750 million, climbed higher due to strong ticket sales. The chance of winning is 1 in about 292 million. Of course, the winner won't end up with the advertised amount. Whether they choose to take their loot as an annuity spread out over three decades or as an immediate reduced lump sum, taxes will eat up a large portion of their win.