Waste workers help find binned €1m lottery ticket in Italy
A lottery player in Italy accidentally threw away a winning €1 million ticket, prompting a two-day search through waste by refuse workers. The ticket was successfully recovered from a bin lorry before it reached a landfill.
Why it matters
This human-interest story highlights the intersection of municipal services and extreme luck, serving as a rare positive news narrative.
Image source, Getty Images By André Rhoden-Paul Published 32 minutes ago A lottery player who accidentally binned a €1m (£857,158) winning-ticket may be the luckiest man in Italy after refuge workers found the missing slip.
The anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in Bitonto, southern Italy, after checking his numbers and being told it was "non-payable".
The man only realised he threw away a winning ticket after a relative pointed out the numbers he always played had been drawn.
It sparked a two-day search through a "mountain of waste" which had been collected by a bin lorry, the head of the refuse company said, Roberto Nicola Toscano, told Italian news agency Ansa.
"This story is nothing short of miraculous," he added.
Recounting the story, he said the mix-up happened because the "non-payable" message appears when the prize is too high to be paid out by the shop.
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