In a remarkable turn of events, a woman who accidentally discarded a lottery ticket worth the equivalent of £857,000 had her prize saved after rubbish collectors spent two days sifting through waste to locate it.
Winning Ticket Mistakenly Thrown Away
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, visited a store in Bitonto, Puglia, southern Italy, to check her lotto numbers. She was told the ticket was "non-payable," which she misinterpreted as worthless, and she threw it in the rubbish.
However, the ticket was actually a winner, but the store could not pay out the large sum. When she returned home, she realized her usual numbers—2, 4, 8, 10, and 51—had matched the winning draw.
Massive Recovery Effort
She rushed back to the store, only to learn the rubbish had already been collected. She then contacted the local rubbish collection company, prompting a massive recovery operation.
SANB administrator Roberto Nicola Toscano explained: "We reconstructed the journey of the ticket, without much hope of finding it, as it had already been picked up by a garbage truck." Fortunately, they identified the right truck and stopped it.
Due to potential hazards in the waste, a specialist company was brought in to conduct the search.
Ticket Found Intact
After an extensive two-day search, the ticket was found intact. When Mr. Toscano called the winner with the news, "she cried with emotion." He added, "I would have hugged her, but we were on the phone."
Before returning the ticket, Mr. Toscano touched it, hoping for good luck. Shortly after, he won the equivalent of £42 on a scratch card.
Related Case: Woman Unable to Claim Prize
In a separate incident, a 79-year-old woman named Carmen won £30,000 on the Spanish lottery but could not claim it due to a 2011 system. She discovered she was on the General Register of Gambling Access Bans, which she didn't recall registering for.
It emerged that her late husband had secretly registered her, forging her signature. Carmen's case is now before the High Court of Justice of Madrid, with her solicitor seeking an annulment.
