Wednesday 5 August 2026 08:08
Italian family's €1 million lottery ticket rescued from trash
A misread label, a hasty toss and an overnight scramble through refuse trucks saved a life-changing win in Puglia.A family in southern Italy lost, then miraculously recovered, a winning instant lottery ticket worth €1 million after it ended up in the household rubbish.
The incident occurred in Bitonto, near Bari in the Puglia region. The individual at the centre of the story - who remains anonymous - had played the same numbers for years, choosing them in memory of a loved one.
After checking the ticket, the lotto player spotted the words "non pagabile" (not payable) and assumed it was not a winner.
In fact, the label simply meant the prize was too large for the local shop to pay out directly and had to be processed elsewhere. Believing the ticket worthless, the unsuspecting lotto winner threw it away.
It was only on returning home that relatives realised the numbers printed on the ticket matched the winning draw. The family rushed to the shop, but by then the ticket had already been cleared away with the rest of the rubbish.
Race against time
Roberto Nicola Toscano, managing director of Sanb, the waste management company serving Bitonto, Terlizzi, Corato and Ruvo di Puglia, told Italian news agency ANSA: "This story has something miraculous about it."
His staff traced the ticket's entire journey, from collection point to the specific truck it had been loaded onto.
Locating the vehicle brought a further complication: for hygiene and safety reasons, it couldn't be emptied at Sanb's own depot.
The company called in a specialist sorting firm elsewhere in the Bari area, and a overnight search began in earnest.
Miracle find
After hours of sifting through refuse, a worker's hand landed on the missing ticket just before dawn.
It was found inside a torn bag alongside other damaged tickets - but, remarkably, it had survived almost untouched. "It was one of the few still intact," Toscano said.
The story had one final twist. Buoyed by the find, some of the Sanb workers who had helped with the search decided to buy a scratchcard of their own over a celebratory coffee, winning €50.
Photo credit: RaffMaster / Shutterstock.com
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A family in southern Italy lost, then miraculously recovered, a winning instant lottery ticket worth €1 million after it ended up in the household rubbish.
The incident occurred in Bitonto, near Bari in the Puglia region. The individual at the centre of the story - who remains anonymous - had played the same numbers for years, choosing them in memory of a loved one.
After checking the ticket, the lotto player spotted the words "non pagabile" (not payable) and assumed it was not a winner.
In fact, the label simply meant the prize was too large for the local shop to pay out directly and had to be processed elsewhere. Believing the ticket worthless, the unsuspecting lotto winner threw it away.
It was only on returning home that relatives realised the numbers printed on the ticket matched the winning draw. The family rushed to the shop, but by then the ticket had already been cleared away with the rest of the rubbish.
Roberto Nicola Toscano, managing director of Sanb, the waste management company serving Bitonto, Terlizzi, Corato and Ruvo di Puglia, told Italian news agency ANSA: "This story has something miraculous about it."
His staff traced the ticket's entire journey, from collection point to the specific truck it had been loaded onto.
Locating the vehicle brought a further complication: for hygiene and safety reasons, it couldn't be emptied at Sanb's own depot.
The company called in a specialist sorting firm elsewhere in the Bari area, and a overnight search began in earnest.
After hours of sifting through refuse, a worker's hand landed on the missing ticket just before dawn.
It was found inside a torn bag alongside other damaged tickets - but, remarkably, it had survived almost untouched. "It was one of the few still intact," Toscano said.
The story had one final twist. Buoyed by the find, some of the Sanb workers who had helped with the search decided to buy a scratchcard of their own over a celebratory coffee, winning €50.
Photo credit: RaffMaster / Shutterstock.com
