Italian refuse collectors help recover €1m lottery ticket

A fortunate turn of events saw Italian garbage workers recover a one-million-euro lottery ticket that had been accidentally thrown away. The instant win ticket was found "miraculously still in one piece" after waste management company SANB employees meticulously combed through large amounts of trash.

“

miraculously still in one piece

The winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, discovered the ticket's value after a store machine indicated it was "non-payable." This was because smaller retailers can only redeem minor wins. Upon returning home, a family member informed her that her usual numbers had actually won the jackpot. However, by then, the ticket had already been discarded and collected.

“

The winner always played the same numbers, as they were associated with a loved one.

Following the winner's desperate call, Roberto Nicola Toscano, administrator of SANB, helped reconstruct the ticket's journey. They managed to identify the correct garbage truck and took it to a specialized facility for a day-long search. Among various discarded items, the workers found the intact ticket stub. The winner, overcome with emotion, cried upon hearing the news. SANB, a public agency, will have the woman sign a promise to cover the additional costs incurred from the extensive search.

“

We reconstructed the journey of the ticket, without much hope of finding it, as it had already been picked up by a garbage truck.