A winning lottery ticket worth 1 million euros. It was thrown in the trash by mistake. and recovered thanks to a search operation mobilized by sanitation workers from the public company SANB, in the Puglia region, in southern ItalyThe story ended with tears, virtual hugs, and a bill to pay that certainly made the effort worthwhile.
The winner, whose identity was kept confidential, went to check her ticket at a lottery outlet shortly after the draw. The machine indicated that the receipt was "non-payable," as commercial establishments only process payments for smaller prizes. Not understanding the message, she concluded that the ticket was worthless and discarded it.
The moment everything changed.
Upon arriving home, a family member revealed that the numbers she regularly played, chosen in honor of a loved one, had been drawn. The woman rushed back to the store, but the trash had already been collected. Desperate, she called Roberto Nicola Toscano, the administrator of SANB.
The company team reconstructed the truck's route, identified the vehicle responsible for the collection, and took it to a specialized company. Due to the presence of potentially hazardous materials among the waste, sorting required special care. After more than a day of searching, the workers found the note.
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"Among them was the left-handed one we were looking for, who miraculously was still in one piece," Toscano said.
Emotion and bills to pay.
Upon hearing the good news, the winner burst into tears. "I would have hugged her, but we were on the phone," said the administrator.
Since SANB is a public company, the costs of the operation could fall on public funds. To avoid this, the winning bidder signed a commitment assuming all extra search expenses, an investment that, given the €1 million prize, certainly paid off. (With information from ANSA)
