Hidden Treasure

Here is a story from Australia. In Florida the deadline for cashing lottery tickets is only a year.

Open Post- Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe,

SYDNEY, Australia -- In a case of better late then never, an Australian woman has collected 100,000 Australian dollars ($74,810) after cashing in a lottery ticket more than a decade after it was bought, an official said Friday.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, collected her winnings this week after discovering the ticket lodged in a greeting card she found in her home, a spokesman for New South Wales state Gaming Minister Grant McBride said on condition of anonymity he said was departmental policy.

The lottery ticket -- known in Australia as a scratchy because gamblers have to scratch the ticket to see if they have won a prize -- was bought in 1992.

The winner was doubly lucky as lottery officials are in the process of reining in the length of time people have to claim their winnings.

"Phased in over the next 10 years the government will be introducing a six-year time limit from which all prizes not claimed go straight back to New South Wales Lotteries for future prize winners," the spokesman said.