Italian sanitation workers recover €1 million lottery ticket from rubbish

The Story in Brief

Sanitation workers in Bitonto, southern Italy, recovered an intact lottery ticket worth €1 million after its owner mistakenly threw it away. The search covered more than six tons of rubbish and lasted over a day. The woman had misread a lottery terminal’s “non-payable” message as proof that the ticket had not won.

The message actually meant the retailer could not pay a prize of that size. After a family member confirmed that her regular numbers had won, the woman contacted SANB, the public waste management agency. Workers traced the rubbish truck and searched its contents at a specialist facility. The woman signed an agreement to cover the additional costs, allowing her to claim the jackpot.