&gt; Also, why would this person be any more of a target than the publicly known shareholders of public companies that have more than a billion?<p>Because rich people have (sometimes multi-generational) experience at being rich. They have multiple layers of security that include lawyers, armed guards, armored vehicles. Also, they invest most of their assets in not easily transferable ways.<p>A jackpot winner is just a middle class joe with a big pile of cash and a target on his back. If you were a lion, wich prey would you pick? The tame cow of the wild buffalo?