Washington  - A lottery winner in the US state of Connecticut left his widow with a 10-million-dollar surprise.

Charlotte Peters, 78, came across the lucky lotto ticket in her husband's things after he died of a heart attack, the Connecticut Post reported. She almost threw away the ticket, but decided to check the numbers before hand and discovered she had hit it big.

Donald Peters had filled out the lottery numbers for his wife shortly before he died. (dpa)