Archive · 6 Aug 2026
Sanitation Workers Recover €1 Million Lottery Ticket Discarded By Winner
A woman in Italy played the lottery with the same numbers every time.
One day, she won a very big prize of one million euros.
When she checked her ticket at the shop, the machine said it was 'non-payable.'
That message just means the prize is too big for the shop to pay out itself.
Not knowing she had really won, she threw the ticket into the garbage.
Later, a family member told her that her numbers had won.
She ran back to the shop, but the trash had already been picked up.
She asked the waste company for help, and the workers stopped the right garbage truck.
After searching for more than a day, they found the ticket still in one piece, and she cried happy tears.
She had to pay for the special search, but she got her winning ticket back.
An anonymous lottery winner in Italy accidentally threw away her winning €1 million (Rs 10.9 crore) ticket after a shop machine showed it as 'non-payable'.
A family member told her that her regular numbers — 2, 4, 8, 10, and 51 — had won; she always played these numbers because they were linked to a loved one.
When she rushed back to the Bitonto shop, the ticket had already been thrown out and collected with the rubbish.
Roberto Nicola Toscano, administrator of waste management company SANB, led a search that traced and stopped the garbage truck carrying the ticket.
Workers combed through the waste for more than a day and found the ticket intact, and the woman agreed to cover the extra expenses of the search.
- Who
- An anonymous lottery winner and Roberto Nicola Toscano, administrator of the SANB waste management company, along with his sanitation workers.
- What
- A €1 million winning lottery ticket that was accidentally thrown away was recovered from a garbage truck.
- When
- Not specified in the articles.
- Where
- Bitonto, southern Italy.
- Why
- The winner discarded the ticket after a shop showed it as 'non-payable,' and sanitation workers recovered it so she could claim her prize.
- Prize value
- €1 million (Rs 10.9 crore)
- Headline figure
- Rs 11 crore (headline; article body states Rs 10.9 crore)
- Winning numbers
- 2, 4, 8, 10, 51
- Location
- Bitonto, southern Italy
- Waste management company
- SANB
- Search coordinator
- Roberto Nicola Toscano
- Search duration
- More than a day
- Ticket condition
- Found intact, 'miraculously still in one piece'