Powerball is up to $1.3 Billion ($806M cash)

[MediumTex]

I would buy a professional sports team and put the rest in the PP.

I would still need something to fill my time, and I think I would enjoy being a team owner.

[jafs]

Would anybody give a bunch of it to charity?

Whenever we think about winning a lot of money in some very unlikely way, we always think we'd give a lot away to various charities and/or friends and family, and then live comfortably on the rest, perhaps invested in some very low risk way.

Of course, we might feel/act differently if we actually did win a lot, but that's the way we think about it now.

[jafs]

charity navigator is a pretty good site for ranking charities, particularly by what percentage of donations are eaten up by administration.

[l82start]

charity navigator would be a great start for small lump donations to things you support, and for money you need to give for tax reasons,
big lumps i would be inclined to gain some expertise and try to find a keystone project i could throw large amounts at, create a trust fund or foundation, and shoot for moving that keystone far enough to get world changing results.. 

[Reub]

Like the Clinton Foundation?

[dualstow]

I would like to think I would give a large amount to charity, and I always say I will. I'll let you know what happens when I meet that bridge. 
With a half a billion dollars, I'd probably just give it to the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation and rub elbows with Bill & Warren. In reality, I also use Charity Navigator and give small amounts to a few select favorites, plus some voluntary donations to non-charities like Wikipedia.

My wife is more interested in the lottery and if we ever had the curse of winning, I'd probably consider it a burden. The small downside is what Kurt Cobain referred to when he said he liked finding a used record in good condition at a good price, and how it wasn't much fun now that he could just buy the whole store. The larger downside is the fear of everyone finding out that I won. I'd probably vent about it here  but I'd never tell anyone but immediate family members and a lawyer. People would find out anyway and then life would begin to suck.

The good news is that I have convinced the missus to play games with smaller maximum prizes, a few hundred thousand dollars. She only plays a few times a year, and if she ever beat the astronomical odds against her, I feel we could absorb that amount without a John Steinbeck The Pearl type tragedy.

[dualstow]

  Yeah, hanging out with Bill and Warren would be fun.  That Kurt Cobain quote is really good. 

Please let me know when your wife wins the several hundred K, and I'll send Bernie Sanders over to collect it. 

I'll give him enough to buy a second pair of underwear, and no more!