Interest, what interest? The prize better be something like 3-million or more, as APY of 1.5% will only net you 45,000 a year (which I can and do live on half that, so this wouldn't be bad at all). Most savings accounts are only fractions of ONE percent, like .3% or .27%. These sub-percenter rates will not be enough to sustain you without drawing down the principle making money for you. The catch with going with a high interest-rate account is that you don't know whether they are giving you a comparatively high rate because they want to attract business and have the bottom line to support it, or they are desperate to cover up a liquidity problem like so many banks did during the housing bust, using cash (in the form of deposits) to hide the problem. And you have to remember that it's not that simple, because you will have to split up the money into $250,000 lots and deposit each lot at different banks. Don't deposit at XYZ bank off Thurgood street and XYZ's branch at Marshall Ave. If XYZ goes down, and FDIC steps in, you'll be vulnerable to losing all but $250,000. What I mean is, for example, you won $500,000. Deposit $200k at Amegy Bank, another $200k at Sterling Bank, and the last $100k at Mucrose Bank. That way, if one, two, or all three go down, you're covered. Leave room for interest building up over time and be sure to siphon the interest over to another bank as it breaches the $250k limit periodically.
And if you do win say, $10 mm (million), then open a savings account at Washington Savings Bank with an APY of 1.5%, you'll end up with $150,000. If I'm not mistaken (I haven't had a savings account in over 20 years, so I don't know the tax code), this is taxable income above a certain number, and you'll have to pay taxes on it.
Now, let's talk about "hanging on to it." If you don't like the interest rates of CD and savings accounts (they SUCK compared to 30-40 years ago when you had 5% rates), then you may think about stocks, bonds, derivatives. Problem is, since a lot of you do not do this for a living, you have NO IDEA what the hell you're doing in a viper's nest in lower Manhattan. You'll eventually lose all the money, since the game is always stacked against you. You cannot compete against the connected people with access to high-frequency-trading. A lot of the financial sector is in the business of separating you from your money. Especially the US government in the form of income taxes AND stealth taxation or theft through inflation of the money supply. To avoid this fate, you have to become part of the system, as it were, understanding that "resistance is futile" and becoming part of the Borg Collective.
The name of the game here is keeping the "attrition rate" of your money as low as possible, and you really have to research this thoroughly. Often, you have to learn to make the leeches steal your money as slow as possible. I couldn't advise you any further than this, since I am not in this position and don't foresee myself in this position, ever.
