Lucky find! Jerry Ritieni with his $2.9 million check from his lost New York Lottery tickets. Photo: VICTORALCORN.COM

Do you keep your tickets or throw them away? This story may serve as a reminder to look after your old tickets.

A Long Island auto body shop owner found out that he had been driving around with nearly $3 million of lottery tickets in his truck.

Jerry Ritieni bought $20 worth of New York lottery tickets in July, but instead of putting them in his pocket as he normally does, he put them into the center console of his truck.

And forgot all about them.

If you're a regular player, this kind of problem won't affect you.

Some players will check their tickets when they buy the next set.

Others will be down at the store or look at the results online when the results are announced, especially if the draw is a big jackpot. But Jerry doesn't have to worry.

The 47-year-old father of two took some time to decide whether he will take the lump-sum payout of $1.9 million or opt for 26 annual payments.

"My only plan is to secure my kids' future," he said.

After you check your tickets, do you keep them, or throw them away? There doesn't seem to be any use for old tickets.

But throw them away only after you have checked these points:

1. Make sure they have been checked by the store or their machine. This is no time to wonder whether you read the numbers correctly.

2. Make sure you don't have any unchecked bonus tickets. Sometimes these can look like the other tickets, so check first.

3. Some stores and games hold a redraw where you put your non-winning tickets in a jar to go into a further draw later. Check with your store or lottery organization before you throw them away.