Lost €1m lottery ticket recovered from Italian trash after two-day search

A lottery player in southern Italy has been reunited with a €1 million winning ticket after it was accidentally thrown in the bin and buried under a mountain of waste. The ticket was recovered by garbage workers in a two-day search, according to the waste management company involved.

The drama unfolded in the town of Bitonto, in the southern Puglia region, after the winner — who has remained anonymous — checked their ticket at a local shop following the draw. The machine reportedly told them the ticket was “non-payable,” leading the player to believe they had not won. They binned the ticket, which was later collected along with other refuse.

Coverage comparison

Reports from BBC and the South China Morning Post both describe the winner’s initial misunderstanding and the frantic effort to retrieve the ticket. BBC reported that the player only realised the mistake after a relative pointed out that the numbers they always played had been drawn. The South China Morning Post, meanwhile, noted that the winner did not realise they had won the jackpot and called on garbage workers to help retrieve it.

Both outlets quoted Roberto Nicola Toscano, the head of SANB, the company responsible for waste collection in the area. Toscano described the recovery as nothing short of miraculous, telling Italian news agency Ansa that the ticket was found inside a hole-ridden bag, still intact.

The winner’s regular numbers — 2, 4, 8, 10, and 51 — had been drawn, and Toscano said the ticket was recovered just in time. “Luckily it was a Sunday, otherwise the load would have already ended up in landfill,” he told Italian broadcaster TGCOM24.

Key claims

  • A €1 million lottery ticket was recovered from the trash in southern Italy after a two-day search by garbage workers.
  • The winner had checked the ticket at a shop, which showed “non-payable,” leading them to discard it.
  • The ticket was found intact, “miraculously still in one piece,” according to Roberto Nicola Toscano, head of SANB.
  • The winner’s regular numbers — 2, 4, 8, 10, and 51 — were drawn, and they had apparently played the same numbers consistently.
  • The cost of the recovery operation will be charged to the winner, who had signed a declaration agreeing to cover the expenses.

Perspectives

Waste management company

Roberto Nicola Toscano, head of SANB, described the odds of finding the ticket as "nothing short of miraculous" and credited his team’s diligence and the timing of the recovery — had it been a weekday, the waste would have been sent to landfill.