The French Riviera is a magnet for the rich, but one anonymous French winner almost missed out spending his wealth there!

A Frenchman recently came within three weeks of missing out a €73 million (US$83 million) Euromillions jackpot, as he unknowingly carried the winning ticket in his wallet for more than a month.

The lucky French winner is an online subscriber to the Europe-wide lottery, and hit the jackpot on December 2, but he forgot to check his numbers as his family prepared for the Christmas celebrations. 

With the clock to the 60-day claim deadline ticking, he finally decided to check his numbers in early January. 

He believed he may have won €5,000 - only to be told that he had landed the biggest jackpot of 2014, and the seventh-highest single Euromillions win in France. 

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

"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 €73million in my wallet every day." 

Despite his new wealth, the man said he would continue to play the lottery. 

"I'm not a player, I've never won anything," he said. "I was playing in the hope of winning a little something. Now I'll play because I know that anything is possible!"

WHEN DO YOU CHECK YOUR TICKETS?

Some players wait until the next game to buy their new tickets. They get the previous game's results checked then too. Other players check immediately the game has finished.

When do you get your tickets checked?