Find out who won Powerball today

Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in south-central Kansas has almost $97 million coming.

Lottery officials plan to announce the winner today — Friday the 13th.

Meanwhile, the winner(s) is likely dreaming up ways to spend the cash — or asking a lawyer for advice.

Or both.

So just how far would that $96.6 million in lotto winnings go?

You could buy a BMW Z4 convertible for you and 2,111 of your friends.

Or you could get 3.9 million 12-liter cartons of therapeutic milk for some of the 178 million children suffering from undernutrition around the globe.

Forbes.com shows you couldn't afford the nation's most expensive home, but you could squeeze into a 48,000-square-foot palace with 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms in Bel Air, Calif.

Or you could build 1,136 homes for families — such as the $85,000 house Habitat for Humanity put up in Wichita last year.

Then again, you could just put Eli Manning on your football team for six years.

Davis Sickmon Jr., a 38-year-old software developer and author, pondered this briefly Thursday.

His first realization was taxes.

If the winner takes the annuity plan, the first $29 million or so goes to Uncle Sam — 5 percent to the state, 25 percent to the federal government.

That would leave a mere $67.6 million.

If the ticket-holder wants the cash now, plan on $48.3 million — or $33.8 million after taxes.

Sickmon said he'd first use what's left of that to help pay off mortgages for about 10 of his friends who have lost their jobs.

Then he'd pay off some of his own debt from a failed business, invest a few million to capture interest earnings and buy a house in the country with a big garage where he'd build muscle cars.

He said he would probably continue contract work developing software, Web sites and games — he'd just be a bit more selective about his clients.

"I'm one of those people I've got to have something to do," he said.

Pat Welch and her husband were having lunch Thursday at the Heritage Restaurant on South Broadway. The restaurant is one of the most active lottery sales spots in Kansas.

Faced with the $97 million question, Welch spoke from experience.

She and her husband said they won $100,000 on a Powerball ticket in 1994.

She said she'd give about 10 percent to charity and leave town to avoid whatever hassles might ensue once people realized her wealth.

"Otherwise, I have no idea," she said with a laugh. "I'd probably go crazy."

She said she'd give some to her three children, as she did after winning in 1994.

She and her husband said they invested what they didn't give to their kids and still have that extra money in the bank.

Pat, who is 70 now, said the unexpected money probably helped her retire from Raytheon a little early.

But she and her husband warned that they don't break even playing the Keno games they play now.

Asked if she splurged on anything after winning $100,000, Pat smiled and said she bought some new shoes.

"Some pretty cheap ones," she said.

This story was originally published November 13, 2009 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Find out who won Powerball today."