Frenchman cashes in EUR 73m lottery win... a month on

(PARIS) - A Frenchman came within three weeks of allowing a 73 million euro lottery win to evaporate after carrying the winning ticket around in his wallet for a month, the lottery company said Wednesday.

The man from northeastern France, an online subscriber to Euromillions, hit the jackpot on December 2, but he had stopped routinely checking his numbers.

Winners have two months to present their tickets.

"It's a story with a happy ending," the man told Francaise des Jeux, who run the lottery in France. "To think that for more than a month I didn't realise I was carrying around a lottery ticket worth 73 million euros ($84 million) in my wallet every day!"

When he finally showed up at a lottery outlet, he was told: "We've been waiting for you."