Ricardo Cerezo is one lucky winner. He was days away from being evicted from his home. 

When the Cerezo family cleaned the kitchen, they never imagined that one of the lottery tickets they had tossed into the cookie jar bought by their daughter - who had recently passed away at 14 - would make them several million dollars richer.

His wife requested that he throw away the pile of Illinois Lottery tickets that had been gathering dust in a cookie jar.

So the Chicago man took them down to his local lotto store to check first.

Wise move. Because it was the 11th and last ticket that caused the machine to announce "File a claim."

After he contacted the Illinois Lottery ticket organizers, they told him he had won $4,850,000.

It came just in time.

Just three months earlier, Cerezo appeared at a foreclosure hearing where a judge gave him a few more months to find a new home before they would be evicted.

After taxes, he took home $3,395,000 - and saved his home.

There are some lessons here for lottery players:

1. Always check your tickets after the game. Even if you are certain there are no winning numbers on your selection, do it anyway. You'll then be sure that you didn't misread a number and miss out.

2. Get your tickets checked by a machine. Don't do it yourself... the risk of missing a number in your selection is always possible, especially if you're tired or excited.

3. Don't get put off by the machine's instructions. You may think that "Filing a claim" is a legal process, or that the machine made an error. Don't suppose - always check with your store.

4. Your advertised win will be lower than your take-home winnings - unless you live in these 9 countries. In many cases, taxes will reduce your win amount, and the lottery organization will often deduct these in advance. Make sure you don't make any spending plans before you know the full amount you're receiving.

5. Use your cookie jar for storing cookies! Put your lottery tickets into an envelope or plastic folder to easily take them with you.