05.08.2026 14:42
A person in Italy threw away a lottery ticket worth 1 million euros (approximately 38 million Turkish Lira) after misinterpreting the warning 'Non-payable.' After a two-day search by municipal crews among tons of waste, the ticket was found and returned to its owner.
In the town of Bitonto in southern Italy, a winning lottery ticket worth 1 million euros (approximately 38 million Turkish liras) that was accidentally thrown in the trash was recovered from tons of waste after two days of meticulous work by municipal garbage workers. The person who got their ticket back and whose identity remains confidential is being referred to in the Italian press as a "double lucky winner."
"UNPAYABLE" WARNING MISUNDERSTOOD
The film-like incident in the Puglia region began when a family member who regularly played the lottery with the same numbers tried their luck with the same numbers again. When the person scanned their ticket on the automatic check machine at the kiosk and saw the "Unpayable" warning on the screen, they thought they hadn't won and threw the ticket into the trash bin there.
When he returned home and learned from his family that the big jackpot had hit the numbers they always played, the man rushed back to the kiosk but realized the trash had already been collected by municipal teams.
SEARCH UNDER ARMED GUARD FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT
After the situation was reported to SANB, the company responsible for waste collection in the region, an intense rescue operation was launched. During the process carried out under the management of company director Nicola Roberto Toscano, it was first determined which garbage truck the trash from the kiosk had been loaded onto. It was noted that it was a great stroke of luck that the incident occurred on a Sunday, and it was determined that the trash bags containing the ticket had not yet gone through the compaction machine and had not been destroyed. After the location of the waste pile was confirmed, the area was immediately placed under armed guard. After two days of challenging and foul-smelling searches among tons of garbage, the ticket was found undamaged on Tuesday morning.
"MONEY DOES NOT SMELL"
Toscano, the SANB director, used the phrase "luck does not smell" in a statement on his social media account after the incident, referencing the Latin saying "money does not smell" (pecunia non olet). Stating that the proper sorting of the waste played a major role in finding the ticket, Toscano expressed his feelings with these words:
"They say waste tells a lot about people's lives. This one truly tells a unique story: the story of a very lucky person who won a million euros with 5 numbers he played with incredible persistence; and a very unlucky person who accidentally threw the winning ticket in the trash... And in the end, a very lucky person again, because in his municipality, waste collection was entrusted to the public company SANB. Immediate action was taken to find that small piece of paper hidden in the pile of waste."
THE "DOUBLE LUCKY WINNER" WILL COVER THE COSTS
Thanking the garbage workers who took part in this difficult operation, Toscano said, "There is something miraculous in this story. It shows how important organization and a bit of luck are."
On the other hand, according to information reflected in the Italian press; all expenses of the search and rescue efforts that lasted for days in tons of garbage will be covered by the lucky winner who got their million-euro ticket back.