Man who faced foreclosure discovered $4.85million Illinois Lottery ticket in a cookie jar

It was truly a miracle for Richard Cerezo who was cleaning out the lottery tickets in a cookie jar and decided to have them checked out down at his local lotto store. He was facing foreclosure on his home, so this win came at the best time.

Should You Take The Cash Option Or Payments When You Win The Lotto? Iowa Lottery Expert Tells All

On the face of it, the decision seems a simple one. Take your lottery win money in all cash, or spread the payments out over 20-25 years or whatever the lottery offers? Watch if you want to know the difference.

Watch This 80-Year-Old Retired School Principal Collect His $326 Million Mega Millions Prize From The NY Lottery

It's great to hear the story behind a win. While eating at the Subway shop in the Valero, retired elementary school principal Harold Diamond noticed the Mega Millions jackpot flashing on the Lottery terminal. The 80-year-old from Wurtsboro, New York, and his wife were waiting out a storm. So he decided to get ten $1 Quick Pick numbers for that evening's drawings. The rest is history.

Weird lottery winning disputes that could leave you penniless unless you take these precautions

It's a sad fact of life that the moment you win a sizeable sum of lottery jackpot money, some of the world is out to take it from you. The problems can come from your lotto store, or a money-crazed group of relatives. Watch these examples to see what can go wrong at the worst possible moment.

Do you know how to protect yourself after winning the lottery? [VIDEO]

Jason Kurland, a lottery attorney from law firm Certilman Balin, talks to PIX about about who can claim the prize, and the ownership of tickets and shared winnings.

In this promotional video Jason advises winners on how they can claim and manage their winnings.

USA Today shows some of the wackiest items that lottery winners have bought with their jackpot

They purchased water parks, entertainment companies, did bikini shoots and pro wrestling. These are some of the strange buys that lottery players have made when they win big. So USA Today got on their trail and found that there are some weird purchases done when money is no object. Anyone for a two-handled coffee mug?