''The majority of winners will tell you YES'', says J.D. Anderson, lead programmer at Lotto Buster Software. ''But, like any large windfall of money, you need to handle your new found fortune carefully.''

Case studies show 68% of big jackpot winners report that misfortune followed their win, said Anderson, with 35% of all big winners filing bankruptcy within 10 years of what should have been the greatest event of their life.

How can this happen, you might well ask? ''The majority of lottery winners have had no previous experience in handling the large amounts of monies that can be won in the lottery, nor are they aware of the pitfalls that can accompany it.''

''After a big lottery win, planning is everything'', says Anderson. ''The initial decisions you make are going to determine if the money will bring you great happiness or if you are destined to become another ‘riches to rag’ story.''

Some of the most common pitfalls are:

Failure To Manage:
''No worries here mate, I just won $3,000,000 dollars in the lottery''. Not true.
You are not getting out of the lottery office until the taxman gets his share. If you do not have the aid of a good tax lawyer taxes are going to take as much as 38%. Now your 3 million is down 1.9 million.

Irresponsible Spending:
''Since I am a millionaire, I can afford to live like one.'' Wrong!
Living like a millionaire requires that you have the income stream to back it up. A big lotto win is a one time hit. Once you buy that $500,000 house and that $100,000 Porsche you are now down to less than 1.3 million (do not forget about sales taxes, closing cost, decorators, furniture, insurance, property taxes, etc).

Failure to invest properly:
''Well, I still have over a million in savings. That's plenty to retire in comfort.''
$1 million in a savings account will earn you, on the average, around 1.5 percent. Unfortunately, if the inflation rate is 3 percent then you lose $16,500.00 or more every year your money sits in a savings account. Bad investments are worse. A case in point being a man who had a large lottery win while working at a car dealership. Although his only expertise was selling cars, he bought the dealership and promptly went broke due to mismanaging the business.

Lifestyle choices:
A million dollars sounds like and is, in fact, a lot of money but if you adapt a lifestyle that cost $10,000 a month to maintain, your million will be gone in less then 10 years. Before you say, ''No way am I going to spend 10 grand a month'', you need to add up what you are paying out in property taxes and maintenance on that expensive house and all those high end toys you bought. And don't forget all that expensive 'high living' you are going to be doing.

Friends and relatives:
Anytime you come into a large sum of money, you can count on a thousand hands trying to reach into your pocket. ''Helping friends and relatives is a good thing but you have to set limits'' says Anderson. ''Many instant millionaires have gone broke trying to answer every request for financial help''.

Drugs and Alcohol:
''Probably the biggest downfall of instant millionaires is substance abuse'', Anderson observes. ''Most people who are prone to drug or alcohol abuse never develop into a problem abuser because their appetites are kept in check by the lack of money and the daily need to earn a living. Remove these two obstacles and tragedy can soon befall the unwary.''

How to avoid these pitfalls?
Anderson advises ''Do not do anything until the gold dust clears from your head. Then find a tax attorney and financial advisor with verifiable track records. Most importantly, keep in mind that 50 million dollars does not go as far as it use to.''