In brief
A lottery player in Bitonto, Italy, accidentally disposed of a €1 million winning ticket in a shop’s bin after a shopkeeper marked it as “non‑payable”. A day later, a relative noticed the player's favourite numbers had been drawn and alerted authorities. Waste company SANB scoured a bin lorry’s collection, locating the torn ticket during a two‑day search. The recovery operation, which cost the winner, highlights frugal but heroic municipal service. The workers even celebrated with a scratch card win of €50.
Waste Workers Find €1 m Lottery Ticket in Italy
A man in Bitonto, southern Italy, unknowingly threw away a €1 million (US$1.1 million) lottery ticket when a shopkeeper read his numbers as “non‑payable”. The slip was discarded into a shop’s bin and later collected by the local waste company.
It took the victim’s relative to realize that the player’s favourite combination—2, 4, 8, 10 and 51—had been drawn. The family persuaded the shop to review the discarded tickets, and the prize slipped into municipal waste.
SANB’s head, Roberto Nicola Toscano, organised a two‑day search of a bin lorry’s haul. The lorry, still full on a Sunday, was diverted to a special site. Workers sifted through a massive wall of separated trash to locate a partly intact slip.
After the ticket resurfaced Tuesday morning, the company charged the winner the cost of the recovery, as agreed in a signed declaration, and said the operation was a “miracle.”
The morale‑boosting story culminated with a light‑hearted moment: Toscano’s crew handed a scratch card to the winner, who subsequently won €50, proving luck ran on both sides.
