An Italian woman mistakenly discarded a lottery ticket that turned out to be worth €1m (£850,000) after a shop terminal showed a 'non-payable' message. She discovered the win at home and learned the ticket had been removed with the day's rubbish, so she asked refuse firm SANB to trace and recover it. SANB located the load, arranged safe sorting at a Bari-area facility and, after two days of searching, an employee found the intact winning slip. The winner agreed to cover the costs of the retrieval.
From Rubbish Heap to Jackpot: Woman Recovers €1m Lottery Ticket After Two-Day Search
The unidentified woman promised to pay for the operation to find her ticket
An Italian woman has recovered a winning lottery ticket worth €1m (£850,000) after a desperate two-day search through piles of rubbish. The ticket was mistakenly discarded after a shop terminal displayed a 'non-payable' message, which the customer wrongly interpreted as meaning the slip was worthless.
What Happened
The woman, who asked not to be named, checked her numbers at a small shop in Bitonto, Puglia. The shop's lottery terminal returned a 'non-payable' notice, so she threw the ticket away. Later at home, family members told her that the numbers she always plays — 2, 4, 8, 10 and 51 — had been drawn.
She rushed back to the shop, only to learn the ticket had already been removed with the day's refuse. Realizing the terminal's message had meant the prize was too large for the retailer to pay, she contacted refuse collection firm SANB for help.
Refuse workers spent two days sifting through the mountains of rubbish
Recovery Operation
SANB director Roberto Nicola Toscano described the effort as 'nothing short of miraculous.' The company was able to trace the ticket from collection at the shop to delivery at a waste-processing site. Because the collection took place on a Sunday, the load had not yet been taken to landfill — a stroke of luck that made recovery possible.
When SANB located the vehicle, they encountered a logistical hurdle: the load could not be emptied at the firm's facility because of contamination risks. The company arranged access to a processing site in the Bari area where workers could safely sort the waste. Refuse staff spent two days sifting through mountains of rubbish before an employee spotted the winning ticket in a bag among other damaged slips; it was one of the few intact tickets.
'And so the recovery operation began,' said Roberto Nicola Toscano, calling the episode 'nothing short of miraculous.'
Before returning the ticket to its owner, Toscano said he touched it for luck and later bought a scratchcard with some employees — they won €50. The winner had signed a declaration agreeing to cover the cost of the retrieval operation, so SANB will charge her for the search expenses.
What This Means
The incident is a reminder to check lottery slips carefully and to ask for clarification when a terminal message is unclear. It is also a rare story of extraordinary luck and quick action by refuse workers who helped recover a life-changing prize.
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